A Dallas-based commercial airline pilot has been found guilty of making false statements to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in order to get a First Class Medical Certificate after he lied about stealing passengers luggage off a baggage carousel.
Olykayode Aduragbenro Ojo, 36, now faces the threat of being sent to prison for up to five years and being slapped with a $250,000 fine following his conviction in an Oklahoma court last week.
Prosecutors had alleged that Ojo lied to the FAA when he applied for his First Class Medical Certificate in both March 2023 and March 2024 because he failed to tell the agency that he had a history of criminal convictions.
What Ojo didn’t disclose was the fact that in February 2023, just a month before he first applied for his medical certificate, he had pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor theft charges in a Kentucky court over allegations he stole passenger luggage from the baggage carousels at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Although Ojo is based in the United States, he originally comes from Nigeria and is believed to have been working for a Nigerian airline at the time of his arrest.
Following the guilty verdict, U.S. District Judge Jodi W. Dishman ordered Ojo to be detained pending sentencing.
Prosecutors have revealed scant details of the case, but this is undoubtedly an interesting, if not slightly weird, story that has landed a young pilot in potentially a lot of trouble.
