Pilot pleads guilty to stalking ex by plane

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, September 10, 2010

(09-09) 09:12 PDT CONCORD -- A private pilot has pleaded guilty to stalking for repeatedly flying his small plane at low altitudes over a Concord neighborhood where his ex-girlfriend lives.

Tom Huey, 52, of Concord entered guilty pleas Wednesday to three counts of stalking, just a day after his trial began in Contra Costa County Superior Court. Judge Jill Fannin immediately sentenced him to three years of probation and one year of anger-management sessions, and directed him to obey a 10-year restraining order protecting the woman.

The judge gave Huey credit for the nearly one year he has served in jail since his arrest at Buchanan Field Airport in Concord for stalking his former girlfriend, whom The Chronicle is not naming because of the nature of the case.

The criminal case stemmed from Sept. 23, 2009, the day Concord police served Huey with an earlier restraining order involving the woman. Later that evening, residents of the Canterbury Village neighborhood in Concord near Treat Boulevard and Clayton Road reported that a plane had made eight passes at low altitude. Huey's ex-girlfriend lives in the area.

Officers arrested Huey at the airport after he landed.

Police believe Huey has buzzed the neighborhood in his distinctive blue-and-green, 1957 Beech numerous times since April 2008, after he and his girlfriend broke up. Residents reported finding flyers in the neighborhood that referred to the woman and included a racial slur. Police believe the flyers may have been dropped from the plane.

"I am disappointed that I did not get to finish presenting my case, but I am glad that he took responsibility for his conduct," Deputy District Attorney Jason Peck said Thursday. "His actions instilled fear and harassed not only the victim, but that entire neighborhood."

From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/09/BA4J1FB7Q5.DTL&tsp=1