FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation has
opened a criminal investigation into the Aug. 25 plane crash in
the Bahamas that killed pop singer Aaliyah, seizing records from
the planes owner and his company.
Agents from the
department’s Office of Inspector General took business records
and computer hard drives last week from the offices of Blackhawk
International Airways at Lantana Airport and from the home of
owner Gilbert Chacon in Pembroke Pines, Fla., authorities said.
A Nov. 9
search warrant affidavit by Special Agent Carlos Vazquez,
obtained Tuesday by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, accuses
Chacon of lying to
officials, using false documents and withholding other
documents, including the aircraft’s maintenance logs.
Officials have not found records concerning the plane’s
maintenance history or information that would show how much
weight the plane was carrying. Vazquez stated that he thought
Chacon had them in his possession.
Chacon, 56, could not be reached for comment Tuesday at
Blackhawk International Airways or at home.
The twin-engine
Cessna 402B crashed shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour in
the Bahamas on Aug. 25, likely the result of being overloaded
and unbalanced, investigators have said. All nine passengers,
including R&B star Aaliyah and pilot Luis Morales, died in the
crash.
Aaliyah, already
prominent in the music industry and making the jump to movies,
had been in Marsh Harbour to do a video shoot. Morales told his
neighbor before the trip that the flight would involve a famous
singer and that the plane’s seating would be reconfigured and a
seat added to accommodate eight passengers, according to the
Vazquez affidavit.
The 10-seat aircraft
lifted off the runway, then immediately plummeted nose-down,
crashing on the side of the runway. No mechanical problems were
found in the engines or the airframe.
The warrant accuses
Chacon of lying about two things: the existence of a lease
between himself and Morales and that he gave Morales the planes
maintenance logs before the flight.
“Such
records either do exist and have been withheld due to their
perceived incriminating nature, or have been secreted and/or
destroyed for the same reason,”
Vazquez wrote in the warrant.
He said Chacon may
be withholding documents to protect himself against lawsuits
from the crash, insurance claims or to block regulatory and
administrative actions against him.
Chacons
attorney, Michael Moulis, could not be reached for comment.
Blackhawk has
surrendered its operating certificate to the Federal Aviation
Administration.
Owen Gassaway,
owner of Florida Airmotive, the company that loaded fuel onto
the Cessna 402B for its fatal trip, said workers told hima
Palm Beach County sheriffs car was parked outside Chacons hangar
last week. Chacons other plane remains inside.
“They
told me later the police were here, but I didnt see anything on
the door, no tags or anything like that,” Gassaway said Tuesday.
This is the first
time officials have accused Chacon
publicly of criminal negligence in the crash.
The affidavit said
the criminal investigation has been going on since
mid-September. No formal charges have been filed.
Morales father,
Luis Morales Sr., said his son had virtually
no money to buy or lease a $250,000 airplane, according to
Vazquez.
He said Chacon
called him two days after the crash and said he needed the
contract he had with Morales Jr. for insurance purposes.
Morales Sr. said he
knew of no deal between Chacon and his son concerning the
airplane.
He said a search of
his sons car and apartment did not turn up the airplanes repair
records or any documents between Chacon and Morales to lease or
buy the plane.
The investigation
revealed that the pilot Morales told his neighbor and father a
few days before the crash that Chacon would pay him in cash on a
per-flight basis. But Morales was not authorized by the FAA to
fly as the single pilot for Blackhawk or Chacon, and
he had not passed the FAAs written test or a check ride to pilot
the plane.
In addition, the
investigation revealed that a declaration form filed by Morales
with Bahamian Customs listed Blackhawk as the owner or operator
in handwriting that looked like Chacons. It differed from what
Morales wrote on the form listing the names of passengers.
After the crash, the
warrant said, Chacon told an investigator that his company was
not the legal operator of the flight. It was not my flight,
Chacon reportedly said.
He also told the
investigator that he had leased the plane to Morales and that he
did not have any of the planes records.
Investigators
question whether a lease ever existed.
In late August, Chacons attorney, Michael Moulis, told the FAA
for the first time that the lease had never been signed.