Lawyer Who Crashed in Ocean Indicted on 33 Federal Charges

Thomas Root, the lawyer who ditched his plane in the Atlantic Ocean last summer, was indicted Wednesday on 33 counts of fraud and other crimes involving radio stations that he was representing before a federal agency.

The federal grand jury indictment accuses the 37-year-old Root of defrauding the federal government and five clients in Federal Communications Commission proceedings on permits to construct FM radio stations throughout the United States.

If convicted of all charges against him, Root would face a maximum 200 years in prison and an $8-million fine.

Root burst onto the public scene last July when his single-engine plane ran out of gas and plunged into the Atlantic off the Bahamas after a six-hour, 800-mile flight that began near Washington, D.C.

Doubts about Root’s story began to surface almost immediately. He told authorities that he had been unconscious for most of the odyssey, but Navy fighter pilots flying alongside the plane reported seeing him moving in the cockpit.

U.S. Atty. Jay B. Stephens told a news conference that a mysterious gunshot wound that Root suffered during the flight was part of an ongoing investigation.

Stephens said Wednesday that Root had been aware of the inquiry, which began in April, 1989. He said 31 of the 33 counts in the indictment involved activities that took place before Root’s July 13 plane flight.