Michael Arnold and his Cessna airplane (WCAX screenshot)
A 65-year-old man from New Hampshire has been arrested for allegedly using his small propeller airplane to stalk a woman in New York, repeatedly flying the aircraft over her home.
Michael Arnold was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count each of aggravated stalking, impeding, providing false information to a police officer, and resisting arrest for “terrorizing Cassie Wilusz,” authorities said.
Arnold was charged in Bennington County, Vermont, where authorities say he would fly his single-engine Cessna 180 out of to allegedly stalk the victim’s New York home.
According to a press release from the Bennington, Vermont Police Department, Arnold, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, over the summer had been served with a temporary restraining order issued by a court in Saratoga, New York. One of the specific stipulations of the restraining order required that Arnold “cease and desist from flying any and all aircraft while the order remains in effect,” the release states.
Court documents obtained by Schenectady, New York, CBS affiliate WRGB state that an agent with the FBI’s branch in Albany, New York, notified BPD that Arnold was housing his Cessna at the William H. Morse State Airport in the town. The FBI was first alerted to Arnold allegedly flouting the terms of the restraining order when Wilusz reportedly said she spotted Arnold flying over her home on Sept. 28 and contacted the bureau, BPD, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Officers were able to determine that Arnold was, in fact, flying his airplane from the William H. Morse State Airport and last seen flying west toward New York several days earlier,” the release stated.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by WRGB states that investigators have video footage of Arnold flying the plane over Wilusz’s home.
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Arnold reportedly responded on Wednesday to questions about whether he’d flown over the home by claiming that someone else was flying the plane, though he said he wouldn’t reveal who was piloting the aircraft.
“I might be able to, but I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus. If they don’t want to get involved, I can’t get them involved,” he said, according to a report from Burlington, Vermont CBS affiliate WCAX.
Wilusz spoke to the Times Union newspaper about the ordeal earlier this year, saying that Arnold has been harassing her from above for nearly five years.
“He is terrorizing us,” Wilusz reportedly told the paper. “He flies so close to the house that it feels like he’s going to go through it. It’s a nightmare that just doesn’t stop.”
Such fly-bys would often occur several times a week as early as 7 a.m., waking up Wilusz and her neighbors and causing their doors and windows to rattle. At least once, Wilusz reportedly claimed that Arnold threw tomatoes at her house from the plane.
Arnold was released after posting bond of $5,000 and was ordered not to go within 300 feet of his plane. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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