Summary

On June 22 and June 24, 2016, Scott Michael Lewis and Gilbert Wayne Wiles Jr., were sentenced in U.S. District Court, Cheyenne, WY, for operating an unregistered aircraft and aiding and abetting. Lewis and Wiles were each sentenced to 36 months of probation and a $1,000 fine and ordered to forfeit an aircraft valued at $130,000.

Lewis was present in April 2013 when Wiles purchased a Cessna 206 from a seller in Austin, TX, for $130,000 in cash. Neither applied to register the aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration, as required by Federal law, before operating the aircraft at various U.S. airports. Their flight activities were discovered after they landed the aircraft at the Yellowstone Regional Airport in February 2014.  

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations.