51-year-old Luiz Gustavo Aires has entered a plea of no contest to the charge of felony theft of an airplane. Gustavo Aires, known by the moniker "Sunrock," is slated to return to court on December 6 for sentencing, according to a social media post by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
Luiz Gustavo Aires, aka "Sunrock" (51) has pled no contest to felony theft of an airplane. He will return to court December 6 for sentencing. https://t.co/fX8oymuEeH
— San Mateo County District Attorney (@SanMateoCoDA) November 7, 2024
This development follows a recent not-guilty plea from Aires for the same incident, which involved the accused stealing a small plane from the Palo Alto Airport. The aircraft made an unplanned landing on a Half Moon Bay beach, tilting forward with its nose in the sand, as reported by CBS News San Francisco. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene, and shortly after, a man fitting Aires's description was arrested in Half Moon Bay.
In the initial court proceedings, Aires had eschewed the services of a court-appointed attorney, expressing his desire to represent himself. Following a brief pause in the arraignment to complete the necessary self-representation paperwork, Commissioner Rebecca Woodson determined that Aires lacked the qualifications for self-representation and subsequently denied his request.
Following the appointment of a court counsel, Aires reversed course and entered a plea of not guilty. With bail set at $10,000, a preliminary hearing for the case was appointed for late February, as per CBS News San Francisco.
