Helikopterdust

Copter caper costs pilot his aircraft


The federal government is confiscating William Stokely's helicopter as part of a plea deal reached earlier this month.

Homeland Security agents arrested the Tulsa ad man and seasonal resident of Forest Highlands, an exclusive gated community south of Flagstaff, at the Flagstaff Airport last summer.

Prosecutors say that he falsified the tail number of his aircraft to stop authorities from catching on that he was flying without a pilot's license, according to U.S. District Court documents. He had lost the license for buzzing Flagstaff homes.

The guilty plea caps an odd saga that started when Stokely was spotted filling up gas cans at the Winslow airport and then caching them in remote areas around Flagstaff and northern Arizona.

In October 2011, the Flagstaff Homeland Security office started an investigation into the suspicious behavior.