Pilot Who Crashed in Bizarre Flight Pleads Innocent to Fraud

WASHINGTON —  Communications lawyer Thomas Root, a pilot who survived a gunshot wound and bizarre six-hour flight down the East Coast that ended with a crash into the Atlantic, pleaded innocent today to fraud charges involving his business.

Root, 37, of Alexandria, Va., is charged with defrauding five prospective radio stations while representing them with the Federal Communications Commission from June, 1987, through September, 1989.

Root pleaded innocent and was released on a $200,000 unsecured bond.

Prosecutors contend Root defrauded five prospective FM radio stations--some of which planned to broadcast Christian messages--after they hired him to help them obtain government licensing to begin broadcasting. None of the five ever received their broadcast licenses.

The indictment does not mention Root’s bizarre flight last July. His single-engine plane ran out of gasoline and plunged into the Atlantic off the Bahamas after a six-hour, 800-mile flight that began near Washington. He told authorities he was unconscious during most of the flight, but Navy fighter pilots flying alongside his plane reported seeing him moving about. He suffered an unexplained gunshot wound during the trip.