CONCORD — A local pilot suspected of harassing his former girlfriend for more than a year was arrested Wednesday evening on suspicion of felony stalking and violating a restraining order after he flew a plane low over the woman's house, police said.
Tom Huey of Concord was taken into custody shortly after landing his Beech single-engine plane at Buchanan Field Airport at 6:40 p.m.
According to Sgt. Tiffiny Leftwich, police were waiting for Huey after they received a dozen complaints from residents around the Canterbury Village neighborhood that a small plane was flying low over their homes.
Leftwich said the pilot's target for harassment was his ex-girlfriend, who lives near the area.
"It began back in April of 2008," Leftwich said. "That's when our investigation started."
Reports of a low-flying plane circling residential homes in Concord stopped for several months after July 2008. But the complaints resumed earlier this month.
The alleged harassment against Huey's ex-girlfriend then took a new turn last week when several leaflets — which included racial slurs and identified a female resident by name — were found near her home. Police at the time were unable to confirm the leaflets were dropped from a plane.
Huey's ex-girlfriend had filed a restraining order against him in July 2008 but was unable to serve him until Wednesday afternoon. That is when two members of the Concord Police Departmentmet Huey at the Concord airport and served him with the papers ordering him to stay away from his ex-girlfriend.
Leftwich said Huey gave no indication he would act out once receiving the restraining order and even told officers his plane, which he usually housed in a hangar at the airport, was down for repairs.
Reports of a low-flying plane started coming in a few hours later. The community blog Claycord.com alerted its readers, several of whom live in the Canterbury Village area, to capture the plane on film and contact the FAA.
After eight passes over the neighborhood and 12 complaints made to the police, the plane landed and police were waiting.
Huey was booked at County Jail in Martinez and his bail was set at $155,000.
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