AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A man suspected of helping steal a single-engine airplane from an Idaho airport five years ago has been arrested in Montana, police said.
Brian Haynes was taken into custody Sunday in Fairfield, Mont., and waived extradition during a hearing Tuesday, Teton County Sheriff Keith Van Setten said. Haynes, who was appointed a public defender for the extradition hearing, was on his way back to Idaho Tuesday afternoon, Van Setten said.
Haynes, 66, is charged in Power County, Idaho, with grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft of a 2003 AMD Alarus airplane that was stored at his business, American Air, at the American Falls airport.
Detective Sgt. Max Sprague of the Power County sheriff’s department first investigated the theft in 2007, then turned it over to the FBI, the Idaho State Journal reported. He then began investigating another case involving Haynes and gave that information to the federal agency.
Sprague took back the case in May and said his investigation led him to believe the airplane was flown to Texas and taken apart.
“I worked nonstop on that for about five months,” Sprague said. “Every warrant I executed brightened the picture a little bit.”
Sprague turned over the results of his investigation to the county attorney’s office, which issued the warrant for Haynes and another person Oct. 9 — five days before the statute of limitations would have expired.
Power County Sheriff Jim Jeffries said Haynes faces another grand theft charge on allegations that he defrauded some other people out of an airplane, and a forgery charge on accusations that he created a fake document stating he owned an airplane that he used for collateral to obtain a loan.
Van Setten said Haynes had been living in a rural area west of Fairfield, Mont., on the Rocky Mountain Front, for many years and is originally from the area. He was located with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service.
