CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Tampa man faces federal charges for crashing through fencing at the St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport and getting into the cockpit of a Coast Guard aircraft, the sheriff's office said.
Airport deputies were told of a suspicious car driving on the portion of tarmac where aircraft are parked just before 5 a.m. Saturday, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office news release.
Deputies tried to stop the car as it traveled to the Coast Guard station, which then crashed through a security gate. It eventually came to a stop as the man, later identified as 36-year-old Herrera Hamilton Moreno, got out while parked at a hangar and ran off.
He allegedly boarded a parked C-130 aircraft and entered its cockpit. Deputies were able to arrest him not long thereafter.
The sheriff's office says Moreno drove through fencing surrounding the airport before getting onto the runway. The car he was driving had been reported stolen from Tampa earlier Friday, deputies said.
He is booked in the Pinellas County jail on charges of fleeing and eluding, trespassing, grand theft auto, habitual traffic offender, burglary and two counts of criminal mischief.
Federal charges are pending, as well.
Editor's note: The story has been updated to reflect Moreno is accused of driving on the portion of the tarmac where aircraft are parked, not the runway. This is new information as provided by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
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