After a hard landing at the Banning airport that saw his airplane, which authorities say had $700,000 in cash and 32 jars of concentrated cannabis oil inside, tip onto its nose, the bloodied pilot left the scene – only to return a short time later in a rental car before being arrested.
Alex Michael Furman, 24, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it. The Press Enterprise details the events following the hard landing of his airplane on April 24:
Before police arrived, a slightly bloodied Furman had run to the control tower and asked someone to drive him to a hospital, the complaint said. While en route, however, Furman asked the airport employee to drop him off at a car rental company instead and said he would drive himself to the hospital.
A while later, Furman rolled up near the plane in a rented Ford Focus. When Banning police questioned him, he gave “non-responsive answers,” said he didn’t know anything about the money, said there was nothing illegal inside and declined to allow officers to search the plane, the complaint said.
This, obviously, made investigators a bit suspicious so they brought in a drug sniffing dog named Timber who did not give a positive reaction for drugs, but whose behavior changed around the plane.
After looking into Furman’s flight history, investators found that he had flown to Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois, two cities in Texas and Thermal before landing in Banning. The stop in Thermal was not included in his original flight plan.
Investigators then obtained a search warrant, discovered the money and drugs, and arrested Furman.
