Plane thieves off to jail for one year to await trial

Santo Domingo.- A Venezuelan and a Dominican will spend one year in prison to await trial charged with stealing a twin engine aircraft one week ago Sunday, while Police chief Jose Polanco yesterday affirmed the names of all the others involved will be revealed in the next few hours.

Pedro Gerardo Gutiérrez and the Dominican resident in Venezuela, Ramon de los Santos Hernandez were sent to La Victoria prison yesterday by interim Permanent Attention judge Julio of the Santos. They were both arrested Saturday in Puerto Plata. Helicopter pilot John Percival Matos is also in custody in the case.

Investigators say Gutierrez and Hernandez were provided with accommodations in the hotel Resident Inn in the capital since October 2, and could be the link to the "mastermind" who allegedly paid Percival, an Army first lieutenant, US$350,000 to help steal the plane.

The authorities have yet to identify the pilots who flew the plane or why it was stolen.