Arkansas teen who tried to steal a plane to attend a rap concert in Chicago pleads guilty
An 18-year-old teenager from Arkansas pleaded guilty for his attempt to steal a commercial airplane to fly to a rap concert back in July. He was arrested on the day of his attempted burglary and received a five-year term of felony probation.
18-year-old Zemarcuis Scott appeared before Circuit Judge Carlton Jones and Managing Public Defender Jason Mitchell during a court hearing where he pled guilty to attempted theft of property and commercial burglary. The Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Chuck Black, announced that Scott received five years of probation on each charge which would run concurrently.
The teenager was also given a $1000 fine, on top of payments to be made for court costs and mental health treatments required by the probation department. Moreover, while he is on probation, he is also not allowed to step foot on the Texarkana Regional Airport property.
According to Arkansas Online, Scott planned to steal an American Eagle twin-engine jet from the Texarkana Regional Airport to see rapper Famous Dex perform in his concert in Illinois. Airport security personnel found the teenager jumping up a fence and onto the property where the planes were parked at about 2:30 AM.
Source: A small jet landing on a commercial road / Shutterstock
They immediately called the police upon finding the trespasser, and when they arrived, Scott was sitting on the pilot's seat of the small commercial plane. According to the young man, he was not concerned about not being able to fly a plane as he believed operating one would just mean pulling levers and pushing buttons.
Moreover, Scott told investigators that he had been planning to steal the plane for about a month, and was observing the twin-engine jet since July 3, 10 PM.
Back in August, the young man pled not guilty to attempted commercial burglary and attempted theft of property. However, his lawyer requested a mental evaluation to determine whether or not he was competent to stand trial. After tests by a psychologist in the Southwest Arkansas Counseling and Mental Health Center, they deemed him competent of standing trial.
It was only this month that he finally pled guilty and got his five-year probation charge for his attempted burglary of an aircraft.