Thomas Cascio and Andrew Mentch, both 16 and from Bethel, are hoping to get the felony charge of circumventing airport security against them dismissed by a special program called accelerated rehabilitation.
On Friday, Mentch, accompanied by his parents and a lawyer, applied for the special program. Cascio applied last week.
"He's a good kid and he's only 16 years old," Mentch's lawyer, Tom Beecher, said. "That will give him an opportunity to have a clean record."
Cascio and Mentch were passengers in an airplane that was allegedly stolen June 21 from Danbury Municipal Airport. The pilot, Philippe Patricio, 20, who was allegedly drunk, landed at Westchester County Airport at about 4 a.m. Patricio faces charges in Danbury and Westchester County Court.
Paul Estefan, the airport administrator, said Friday that he appreciates Mentch's honesty when speaking to police July 9. That's when Mentch talked about how he, Patricio and Cascio got into the airport. Mentch told them that "we jumped the fence on the left side of the sliding gate."
In a prior statement on June 22, Mentch told police that they entered through a locked gate after Patricio opened the gate using a code.
A court document also states that Patricio told police he used his code to open the gate that allows access to the area where the plane had been parked.
"He was very honest," Estefan said of Mentch. "I can tell you, his honesty is a good thing."
The honesty "answered a lot of questions for a lot of people and that has to count for something," Estefan said.
Estefan said he will be present at the teens' hearing on Aug. 23 and will speak then about whether he thinks the teens should receive the program. He wants to discuss the case with Mayor Mark Boughton before making his opinion known.
Now I understand that these two are teens and while a agree that their punishment doesn't have to consist of a felony conviction, it wasn't like these two are completely innocent and didn't know what they were doing and as records indicate, were drinking also. They had to have known that scaling a fence at and breaking into a airplane was probably a wrong thing to do and flying around with a drunk pilot who could of killed people on the ground wasn't that smart of an idea either.
They're as much responsible for what happened than Patricio simply because they were they participated in this ridiculous crime. They could of said "hey, lets's not do this" or "no, maybe we'll let you (Patricio) fly us some other time. Maybe if they would of objected to going to the flying, Patricio wouldn't gone to the airport in the first place.
For all the unwanted national media attention these teens created (some of that press was good because it exposed the lack of security at the facility), they should receive at the very least a really good slap on the wrist. Why should honesty mean you can get off the hook?
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
