A grand jury has charged Jason Begin with theft in connection with an airplane crash outside Montreal.
AUBURN – A man accused of stealing an airplane and crashing it in Canada last month is scheduled to be extradited to Maine on Oct. 29.
Jason Begin, 25, was officially charged Thursday by an Androscoggin County grand jury with one count of theft and one count of violating the conditions of his release in connection with Sept. 27 incident.
Police say Begin hot-wired a 1976 Cessna with a screwdriver and pliers, then flew it from Twitchell’s Airport in Turner over the Canadian border.
The shiny white plane with yellow and blue trim crashed in a field in a small town outside of Montreal.
Police believe Begin, who does not have a pilot’s license, was headed for the Canadian city, hoping to escape charges of unlawful sexual contact and gross sexual assault. He is scheduled to appear in Androscoggin County Superior Court on those charges in November.
But, police say, his attempt to flee failed when he ran out of gas.
Begin, who lived on Howe Street in Lewiston, survived the crash with minor injuries.
The plane, which belonged to Buckfield airplane mechanic Cedric Abbott and was valued at $24,000, was totaled.
Begin has spent the past 18 days in a Canadian jail. He is being detained there on immigration and stolen-property charges, and he will likely be deported after those charges are dealt with in court.
The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department has tentatively planned to send a detective to pick him up at the border on Oct. 29.
Begin could face up to 40 years in prison if he is convicted of the sex assault charges. The theft charge could add up to 10 years, and it may not end there.
Additional charges could be added if police find evidence to connect Begin with two earlier airplane break-ins.
In July, someone broke the door lock and ignition switch on an airplane tethered on River Road. Then, soon after Abbott’s plane was taken, it was discovered that another plane at Twitchell’s Airport had been tampered with.
The ignition switch on the plane, which belonged to the owners of the airport, was broken as a result.
lchmelecki@sunjournal.com
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