Investigations

On December 21, 2017, Christopher Karl Roberts was sentenced in U.S. District Court, New Orleans, for operating an aircraft in commercial service without a valid FAA pilot’s certificate. He was sentenced to 60 months’ probation and a $100 assessment. As a special condition of supervision, Roberts was ordered to spend 6 months in home confinement.

 

DOT-OIG’s investigation revealed that FAA revoked Roberts’ air transport pilot’s certificate on September 10, 2009, but Roberts illegally acted as pilot on multiple flights, including one from Cookeville, Tennessee, to Hammond, Louisiana, on January 25, 2016, and one from New Orleans International Airport to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in Florida on May 16, 2017. Roberts pleaded guilty to illegally piloting the May 16, 2017, flight.

 

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from FAA.