Document Fraud Case Ends with Prison Time

A man with a history of criminal behavior who pleaded guilty in July to making numerous false statements on documents to the Federal Aviation Administration, including a failed attempt to fraudulently register a stolen business jet, has been sentenced to 37 months of incarceration. Cole Allan Peacock, 30, also must serve three years of supervised release.

Court documents show that in July 2019, Peacock made false statements on an application for an FAA student pilot certificate. Although he had previously been convicted of multiple felony offenses, the application did not disclose that criminal record. A month later, Peacock forged an FAA flight instructor’s signature authorizing him to serve as the pilot-in-command on multiple flights, including flights with passengers. In August 2020, Peacock submitted fraudulent records to the FAA to register a stolen Bombardier Learjet 55. In June 2021 he was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. federal court for the Southern District of Florida.

According to BJT research, between 2013 and 2019, Peacock was variously convicted of credit card fraud, grand theft, resisting arrest with violence, bomb threats, assaulting police officers, passing fake checks, felony impersonation of a public official, and misdemeanor reckless driving. He served jail time for some of these crimes.