Florida student pilot sentenced to 37 months over false records

FLORIDA — A Florida Keys man has been sentenced to prison for falsifying Federal Aviation Administration records, announced the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO), Cole Peacock, 30, was sentenced this week to 37 months in prison after he forged signatures on official flight records.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigated Peacock, a student pilot after he reportedly flew an aircraft on his own — with no instructor — from Homestead to Orlando, Florida. The investigation is said to have revealed that Peacock had falsified his logbook several times by forging his flight instructor’s signature.

Peacock also is alleged to have created counterfeit endorsements that purportedly allowed him to fly solo in Class B airspace when, in fact, he was not qualified or trained to do so. Nor had Peacock received any such endorsement from his flight instructor, according to the statement by the USAO

In addition, the USAO said the investigation revealed that Peacock had stolen a 1981 Learjet 55 valued at about $175,000 by submitting a fraudulent and forged bill of sale to the FAA. This reportedly led the FAA to transfer ownership of the aircraft to Peacock. Peacock allegedly placed new registration numbers on the Learjet to conceal the fraud.

Earlier this year, Peacock pled guilty to two counts of Making False Statements and Entries in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1519, the USAO said.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Todd Damiani, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, Southeast Region announced the sentence imposed in Key West by Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King.

The case was investigated by the Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc S. Anton.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.