Local News in Brief : Bail Set for Salvadoran Pilot
A Salvadoran airline pilot charged with trying to smuggle a cache of firearms into his homeland was ordered released Thursday on $100,000 bond on the condition he relinquish his passport and pilot’s license.
U.S. Magistrate Venetta Tassapolus disagreed with the U.S. government that pilot Francisco Jerez would clandestinely flee the country if released from jail.
Jerez, 30, and co-pilot Francisco Panameno, 29, employees of TACA International Airlines of El Salvador, were arrested after federal agents found seven pistols and a .12-gauge shotgun in their luggage before takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport last Friday.
Tassapolus set Jerez’s bail at $100,000 on the condition that he hand over his passport and pilot’s license to authorities, stay with his parents, who live in Glendora, and not enter an airport or seaport until his case is tried.
Both pilots, charged with violating the federal Arms Export Control Act, were scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing Jan. 31.
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