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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Charges Filed in Cross-Border Plane Incident

ST. LOUIS (CN) - A Canadian man who allegedly stole an airplane and flew it into U.S. airspace, hoping to be shot down, faces federal charges of interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, importation of a stolen aircraft and illegal entry.

A grand jury returned the indictment against Adam Dylan Leon fka Yevuz Berke, 31, of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Leon faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted on all the charges involving the Cessna 172.

Prosecutors say Leon stole the plane on April 6, from Confederation College, a flight training school in Thunder Bay where he was a student. The U.S. Department of Defense intercepted the plane after it entered U.S. airspace.

Attempts to communicate with Leon were not successful, court papers state. Leon landed the plane on a road near Ellsinore, Mo. and the Missouri Highway Patrol arrested him at a grocery store. Ellsinore is 160 miles south of St. Louis.

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