Authorities have released the identity of a man they say stole an airplane and crashed into a Fresno County field on Sunday.
Ray Romerro Pirro, a parolee from Tracy, was at the controls of the plane when it crashed in a field near Barstow and Garfield just west of Fresno.
Authorities don't have any information on why Pirro had stolen the plane from an airfield in Concord or information on where he was headed.
The planes owner, Felix Boston, was in Fresno when crews hauled the plane away from the crash site on Monday morning.
"I parked the plane after we did an annual last Friday at one o'clock then went to go fly it at 11 o'clock Saturday and there was no airplane," Boston said.
Boston didn't report the plane missing. He thought one of his friends borrowed it. The NTSB called him Sunday afternoon to report the crash.
"They said he had prison tattoos all over him and he's on parole but they couldn't find a pilot's certificate for him....through the records so maybe he was out joy riding, who knows," Boston said.
TXT 24
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