Former Olympian Sentenced to Prison Following Reckless Social Media Stunt
SOCHI, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 18: Trevor Jacob of the United States smiles after the Men's Snowboard Cross Small Final on day eleven of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on February 18, 2014 in Sochi, Rus (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
YouTuber and former Olympian Trevor Daniel Jacob has been sentenced to prison following a dangerous social media stunt.
The 30-year-old was accused of not only intentionally crashing his aircraft but destroying the wreckage of the plane in the aftermath, thereby obstructing the investigation into the so-called accident, which happened in Santa Barbara County, Calif. on Nov. 24, 2021.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, Jacob was sentenced to just six months in prison on Monday, Dec. 4—a mere fraction of the up-to-20 years he was facing after pleading guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation earlier this summer.
Jacob is an experienced pilot and skydiver who took off from Lompoc City Airport on a solo flight that had logged Mammoth Lakes as its destination, but Feds say he never intended to land there. Prior to taking off, Jacob had mounted a number of cameras across the body of the plane. He also donned a parachute and brought along a video camera and selfie stick. Just over half an hour into the flight, above the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria, Jacob ejected from the plane, filming himself parachuting to the ground before hiking to the crash site to recover the footage from the wreck.
He didn't report the incident for two days, at which point the National Transportation Safety Board told him he was responsible for locating and preserving the wreckage for their investigation. Shortly after, the Federal Aviation Administration launched an investigation of its own, but Jacob kept the location concealed from investigators.
Jacob lied to federal investigators when he submitted an aircraft accident incident report that falsely indicated that the aircraft experienced a full loss of power approximately 35 minutes after takeoff. Jacob also lied to an FAA aviation safety inspector when he said the airplane’s engine had quit and, because he could not identify any safe landing options, he had parachuted out of the plane.
On Dec. 10, 2021, he and a friend flew there by helicopter to tow away the remains of the plane, which he eventually hauled back to the airport. There, hidden in a hangar, he cut up the remnants and destroyed them, dispersing them into trash bins throughout the airport and elsewhere.
He further lied to investigators on his official aircraft accident incident report, where he claimed that the plane suffered from a total power loss before self-ejecting. He doubled down directly to an FAA aviation safety inspector, telling them that the engine failed and that, without any visible viable areas in which to land, he had parachuted out.
According to the DOJ, the stunt was orchestrated as part of a video meant to fulfill a sponsorship deal through which Jacob agreed to promote a wallet. On Dec. 23 of that year, he uploaded a video to YouTube called “I Crashed My Airplane,” which promoted the product alongside footage of himself parachuting to the ground and the aftermath.
“It appears that [Jacob] exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offense,” prosecutors said. “[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.”
Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident.
