Student pilot sentenced for airplane theft

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A Canadian student pilot will spend two years in prison for stealing an airplane and flying it into the United States without clearance, a judge says.

U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw chastised Adam Dylan Leon, 31, for stealing a four-seat Cessna 172 from an Ontario flying school April 6 and flying it across the Canada-U.S. border.

"This is very serious," Shaw said Tuesday. "I think this is an extraordinary situation in terms of cost and the hours involved. And it posed a significant disruption to government."

The sentencing comes after Leon pleaded guilty in August to charges of interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, importation of a stolen aircraft and illegal entry into the United States.

With Leon ignoring requests from border protection and military airplanes during a 7 1/2-hour pursuit, six Midwestern cities were put on alert and the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison was evacuated as a precaution, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Wednesday.

The Post-Dispatch said attorney Lucille Liggett, who represents Leon, alleges her client suffers from severe depression as a result of his parents' deaths in a 2002 car crash.