Athens Municipal Airport workers saw the plane flying low and erratically and called its owner, who said he hadn't given permission for someone else to fly it. Athens police Sgt. Don Yarbrough says the plane crashed in a field.
Yarbrough says Joshua Paul Calhoun started to leave in his truck but stepped out of the moving vehicle toward police when he saw them.
Police say the 25-year-old Brownsboro man claims he wired $52,000 to someone he encountered online to buy the $250,000 Bonanza 836.
Yarbrough also says the man Calhoun claimed flew the aircraft has been dead for months.
Calhoun suffered minor injuries and was jailed.
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