TURNER – Jason Begin will be home for Christmas.
Accused of stealing an airplane and crashing it near Montreal in September, the 25-year-old Lewiston man was being picked up by county sheriff’s deputies Tuesday night at the Canadian border.
Begin is charged with theft in the Sept. 27 incident during which investigators say he hot-wired a 1976 Cessna with a screwdriver and pliers at Twitchell’s Airport.
Police say Begin then flew the plane north and into Canada before crashing in a field in a small town outside of Montreal. He suffered minor injuries when the plane went down.
Investigators believe Begin was trying to reach Montreal in hope of escaping sexual assault charges in Androscoggin County.
The attempt failed when the white plane with blue and yellow trim ran out of gas, police said. Begin was immediately captured by Canadian authorities.
The plane, which belonged to Buckfield airplane mechanic Cedric Abbott and was valued at $24,000, was totaled in the crash.
Begin, who lives on Howe Street in Lewiston, has spent the past three months in a Canadian jail. He was detained there on immigration and stolen-property charges but police agreed to turn Begin over to investigators in this country.
According to Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Detective William Gagne, officials from that department were headed to the Maine-Canadian border Tuesday night. Begin would be brought back to Androscoggin County and jailed here, Gagne said.
Begin could face up to 40 years in prison if he is convicted of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact. 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, investigators said.
In July, someone broke the door lock and ignition switch on an airplane tethered off River Road. Then, shortly after Abbott’s plane was taken, it was discovered that another plane at Twitchell’s Airport had been tampered with, police said
Police are eager to talk to Begin about the earlier theft attempts and to learn how he learned to fly a plane in the first place. Investigators believe Begin may have taught himself by using a computer program.
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