Trevor Jacob is going to prison.
The 30-year-old YouTuber and former Olympian has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he intentionally crashed his plane to “gain online views,” via People.
Trevor filmed the stunt in Santa Barbara County on November 24, 2021, via the Department of Justice, and reportedly hid the evidence from investigators.
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He later pled guilty on June 30 of this year to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, via the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Central California.
Prosecutors said he “most likely committed this offense to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain.”
Jacob eventually said that the motive was to earn commissions from The Ridge, a wallet manufacturer which sponsored the video.
“Pursuant to the sponsorship deal, Jacob agreed to promote the company’s wallet in a YouTube video that he would post,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release, via People.
“It appears that [Jacob] exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offense,” they said, adding that his conduct “cannot be tolerated.”
Jacob reportedly set up cameras inside the plane before taking off from Lompoc City Airport, purportedly for a trip to Mammoth Lakes.
Instead, Jacob intentionally crashed the plane according to the report, landing in a dry brush area in Los Padres National Forest. He also filmed himself parachuting to the ground after being ejected from the plane.
Jacob then hiked over to the wreck “and recovered the data containing the video recording of his flight and the crash of the airplane,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
On December 23, 2021, Jacob posted a video named “I Crashed My Airplane” that showed him “parachuting from the plane and the aircraft’s subsequent crash,” via the release. The video has since been taken down from YouTube.
The FAA revoked Jacob’s pilot license in April of 2022. More than a year later, he pled guilty to obstructing the investigation, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
He represented the United States in snowboarding at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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