YouTuber Trevor Jacob was sentenced to six months in prison for obstructing a federal investigation after destroying the wreckage of an plane he purposely crashed.
On Nov. 24, the 30-12 months-old flew his airplane out of Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara County, California, with the intention purposely crash the vessel for a YouTube movie. The stunt was part of a sponsorship offer, in which Jacob agreed to market the company’s wallet in the video.
Prosecutors say Jacob lied to investigators about the site of the wreckage and as a substitute removed proof of the plane crash with the intent of obstructing the Federal Aviation Administration from investigating the crash.
With the support of a buddy, Jacob airlifted the crashed plane to yet another location. From there, it was transported to a hangar in Lompoc exactly where Jacob reduce up the airplane into smaller sized items and disposed of the remnants within airport trash bins.
The social media influencer mounted numerous cameras on different sections of his airplane and recorded himself parachuting to safety with a selfie stick. Cameras were in a position to seize as the airplane crashed on a hillside in Los Padres Nationwide Forest.
Following the parachute landing, Jacob hiked up to the crash to acquire his cameras.
On Dec. 23, 2021, Jacob uploaded a online video on YouTube titled “I Crashed My Plane” that contains footage of the wreckage and a promotion of the sponsorship’s merchandise.
In accordance to prosecutors, Jacob lied to federal investigators in his report wherever he stated the aircraft expert a full decline of power and that he could not detect any protected landing options.
The scenario was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector Basic.
Jacob pleaded responsible on June 30 to one depend of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
“It seems that Jacob exercised extremely lousy judgment in committing this offense,” reported prosecutors in a sentencing memorandum. “Jacob most probable fully commited this offense to crank out social media and news protection for himself and to get monetary acquire. Nevertheless, this variety of ‘daredevil’ carry out can’t be tolerated.”
