MIDDLE RIVER, Md. — Driving past a security gate into Martin State Airport, police say 43-year-old Joseph Goldman headed straight to the tarmac on a mission.
“Made his way to an empty aircraft, got into the aircraft and tried to start the engine,” said Ngan Ho of the Maryland State Police, “A pilot who was on scene preparing for a scheduled flight confronted the suspect and he immediately called 911.”
Appearing on Closed Circuit TV for a bail review hearing, Goldman had no attorney and acted surprised that he wasn’t simply being charged with trespassing.
His hearing has been postponed.
In fact, the suspect faces a series of charges including one count of theft in excess of a hundred thousand dollars, which if convicted, could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Apparently the aircraft in question isn’t just any plane.
According to court records, "it is the property of Executive Fight Solutions and is valued at more than $3 million.”
Charging documents suggest Goldman has an airline transport pilot license and is capable of flying the aircraft.
Questions remain over how a man determined to steal a plane made it all the way to the cockpit before he could be stopped.
“You don’t know if this man has a gun on him or how dangerous he is so I’m very glad that the way that this happened,” said Ngan, “It’s just fortunate that we were able to capture this guy and the pilot was not injured. Security was not injured. He wasn’t injured either so all in all, I think it was… we did our job.”
