YouTuber headed to federal prison after he intentionally crashed airplane for clicks, cleaned up the wreckage: Prosecutors

A YouTuber will serve time in federal prison after he intentionally crashed an airplane, cleaned up the wreckage, and then lied about it to investigators.

On Monday, United States District Judge John F. Walter sentenced Trevor Jacob, 30, to six months in prison after Jacob pled guilty last June to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, said a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District of California.

Jacob, a YouTube pilot and former Olympic snowboarder, began a YouTube channel 15 years ago and has since amassed more than 140,000 subscribers. His channel also attracted sponsors, including a company that sells various products such as wallets.

According to federal prosecutors, Jacob agreed to promote a wallet from this company in a video for his channel. But the video he made was not about wallets at all.

Instead, Jacob took off from Lompoc City Airport on November 24, 2021, on a solo flight with the expressed destination of Mammoth Lakes. Several cameras had been affixed to the plane, and Jacob had a video camera and a selfie stick as well.

Approximately 35 minutes after takeoff, Jacob, an experienced skydiver who was already wearing a parachute, indicated that he had "an engine out." He began swearing profusely and opened the plane door, looking nervously at the ground below. Within moments, he evacuated the plane, leaving it to crash in a remote part of Los Padres National Forest.

After landing in a dry brush of poisonous oak, Jacob wandered about for hours, first to locate the plane, then in a desperate search for water and safety. After sunset, he eventually found some ranchers who rescued him.

Jacob documented his journey throughout that harrowing episode. The video of it, entitled "I Crashed My Airplane," is still posted to the TrevorJacob YouTube channel and can be seen below:

Jacob also reported the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board two days after it happened. At that time, he agreed to provide the NTSB with "the coordinates of the downed plane and videos of the crash" and to preserve the wreckage so that the NTSB could examine it, the press release said. The FAA soon began an investigation as well.

Despite the promise not to meddle with the wreckage, a few weeks after the crash, Jacob and a friend located the crashed plane by helicopter. They then used straps to secure the plane to the helicopter and eventually transported it to Jacob's hangar at Lompoc City Airport. There, Jacob systematically dismembered the wreckage and deposited it, pieces at a time, in various garbage receptacles at the airport and elsewhere "with the intent to obstruct federal authorities from investigating the November 24 plane crash," the press release claimed.

Jacob then lied, saying that he did not know the location of the crash site. He also made a false report about the accident and misled investigators when he told them that he had to parachute from the plane because he could not find a safe place to land it.

In other words, Jacob got himself into a mess of his own making and then lied to cover it up. He even admitted as much in a video entitled "I Got My Pilots License Back! But Going to Prison...," posted to his YouTube channel on Monday. In that video, Jacob said that at one point, he was facing five felony charges that each carried a 20-year sentence.

He also called himself "an idiot" for pulling the stunt and said he felt "horrible" about it almost as soon as he hit the ground. "I screwed up," he said. He then added that he has paid dearly for his mistake. But he also indicated that he was motivated to fake the plane crash to fulfill a "bucket list" dream, not "to make money" or "gain online views," as alleged in the press release.

Whatever his reasons, Jacob will serve six months in the interest of justice and to deter other would-be daredevil YouTubers from trying something similar. "It appears that [Jacob] exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offense," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "[Jacob] most likely committed this offense to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain. Nevertheless, this type of ‘daredevil’ conduct cannot be tolerated."

Jacob's attorney did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

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