An American pizza delivery man who took off from the Florida Keys in a light plane and crashed near Havana last year was sentenced to six months in prison.
US District Court Judge also ordered Milo John Reese (55) to pay $45,000 in restitution for the damage to the Cessna 172 after he pleaded guilty to transporting a stolen aircraft.
Reese had taken about two weeks of flying lessons at Paradise Aviation at Marathon Airport in the Florida Keys.
On July 31st, he took off on his first solo flight in a Cessna 172 owned by the flight school. He was supposed to circle the airport and land.
Instead, Reese flew to Cuba, flipping the plane over on the rocky coast a few miles from Havana. He was treated for minor injuries at the Cuban Naval Hospital in the fishing village of Cojimar, just outside Havana.
At the time of the case, a sheriff's spokeswoman said Reese had a history of mental illness and no apparent ties to Cuba. His wife told sheriff's deputies that he had a history of manic depression, would periodically disappear from home and had stopped taking his medication.
Reese has been detained since Cuba returned him to Florida last August. Cuba repatriated him without charging him with violating the island's airspace, having concluded that his flight was an accident, not a politically or criminally motivated stunt.
Havana also undertook to return what was left of the plane.