Man who set plane on fire in Athens sentenced to prison

Oct. 06--A pilot who set a plane on fire at the Athens Municipal Airport last year has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison after pleading guilty in December to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit arson.

According to information presented in court, Theodore Robert Wright III "led a multi-jurisdictional fraud and arson scheme that spanned from Hawaii to the Gulf of Mexico and involved the destruction of various luxury goods, including vehicles, aircraft and vessels," a press release shows. "Wright and his co-conspirators, Shane Gordon, 46, and Raymond Fosdick, 42, both of Houston, and Edward Delima, 42, of Honolulu, acquired luxury goods and obtained insurance coverage for those goods in amounts exceeding their purchase prices. Wright and his co-conspirators then devised and carried out schemes to destroy those goods and defraud insurance companies."

In May 17, 2017, Wright, Gordon, Fosdick, and Delima were charged with various offenses. Delima pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to a five-year term of probation.

Fosdick pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit arson and in January was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison. Gordon pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federal agent and was sentenced to two years in federal prison this month and ordered to pay $440,000 in restitution.

Wright was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $988,544.83.

"The various assets destroyed in the scheme included a 1966 Beechcraft Baron, a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo, a 1971 Cessna 500 and a 1998 Hunter Passage," according to the press release. "The Beechcraft Baron made an emergency landing in the Gulf of Mexico, sank in deep water and was not recovered. The Lamborghini Gallardo crashed into a ditch full of water, causing the vehicle to flood."

The Cessna 500 was destroyed when Fosdick set it ablaze at Wright's direction at the Athens Municipal Airport. The Hunter Passage sank in a marina in Hawaii. Fraudulent insurance claims were filed in the incidents.

Wright and his co-defendants also filed a fraudulent $1 million personal injury lawsuit related to the crash in the Gulf of Mexico. The suit was settled for $100,000.

"This kind of fraud causes everyone to pay higher insurance rates," said U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown in the press release. "Just having those nice things destroyed is a shame. And for someone to cheat and make money off of it is particularly troubling."

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FAA Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Texas Department of Insurance and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

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