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Former Cessna
Employee Sentenced to 18 Months for Stealing Parts from Airplanes By Bill Goldston |
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March 12, 20122 - A former Cessna employee has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for selling stolen aircraft parts on eBay, He also was ordered to pay $130,000 restitution.
Diego Alejandro Paz-Teran, 35, Wichita, Kansas, was an
airframe and power plant mechanic at Cessna Aircraft
Company pleaded guilty to one count of interstate
transportation of stolen property.
In
his plea, Paz-Teran admitted he stole aircraft parts
from Cessna and sold them on eBay. According to court
documents, the investigation began in November 2008 when
an employee of a Rockwell Collins Company distributor
saw a Collins AHC-3000 Attitude Reference Computer
offered for sale on eBay for $9,000.
Knowing that the part was valued at more than $45,000, he contacted the seller and asked for serial numbers. Cessna tracked the serial numbers to a part that was removed from an XLS Plus aircraft while it was being painted. |
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Investigators found other stolen aircraft parts being sold on
the same eBay account and followed records on the account to
Teran at his home in Wichita. Paz-Teran had fled to Ecuador
after he was charged with stealing aircraft parts. Hea was on
the run for two years before returning back to the United
States.
U.S.
Attorney Barry Grissom commended the U.S. Department of
Transportation-Office of Inspector General, the Sedgwick County
Sheriff?s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Treaster for their work on the
case.
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing
corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their
main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they
are the most well known for their small, piston-powered
aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a
subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate Textron.
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