Thursday, October 27, 2005 12:11 PM CDT
Arrest made in stripped airplane
By JEFF REINITZ, Courier Staff Writer
WATERLOO --- A Clear Lake businessman parked one of his planes at
Waterloo Airport airport after it developed engine problems about five
years ago.

And sometime later, he discovered the aircraft had been stripped of
tens of thousands of dollars of parts.

"It's just sitting there on the ground ... flat on its belly," said
Jerry Dwyer, 75-year-old former overseer of the Mason City Airport who
has been flying since age 13 and now runs an aircraft sales company and
air charter and freight businesses.

The twin-engine 1973 Piper Seneca now sits behind a building at the
Waterloo Airport with missing motors and wooden pallets where the
landing gear used to be.

Capt. Bruce Arends of the Waterloo Police Department said a rural Cedar
Falls man was the one who removed the parts --- which include the
aforementioned engine and landing gear as well as an instrument panel,
autopilot and seats --- to use them on an airplane he was building
himself.

Police arrested John M. Nocero, 48, of 2989 Jepsen Road, Tuesday for
first-degree theft.

Nocero, who was listed as an officer with the local chapter of the
Experimental Aircraft Association, couldn't be reached for comment
Tuesday.

....

Arends said Nocero took the parts to a workshop area at his Cedar Falls
home and intended to use them to build his own airplane.

....

Nocero told police he took the gear, records state.

Nocero was booked at the Black Hawk County Jail and let out a few hours
later on pre-trial release.

First-degree theft is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in
prison.

source:
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2...a7004f7a67.txt