Man who allegedly stole plane and fled to Cuba charged

Posted on Wed, Oct. 04, 2006

Man who allegedly stole plane and fled to Cuba charged
BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@MiamiHerald.com

KEY WEST - A Texas man who allegedly stole an airplane from Marathon
Airport last week and flew it to Cuba with his young son as a passenger
was charged by federal prosecutors with transportation of stolen
property overseas.

Randall Ray Franklin, 52, from Laredo, Texas, is currently in Cuba while
the U.S. and Cuban governments work out his extradition to the United
States.

William Jones, a New York resident vacationing in the Keys, told police
Saturday afternoon that his 1978 white and blue Cessna 172 Hawk XP was
missing from the small airport along U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys.

Cuban authorities reported to U.S. federal law enforcement in Cuba that
the plane landed Saturday morning in Varadero with a man and a young boy
on board.

The man originally identified himself as ''Joseph Fiel'' and produced a
birth certificate with that name. But fingerprints in the FBI's database
showed his real name is Randall Ray Franklin, according to the criminal
complaint.

The motive is unclear, although officials are looking into a possible
custody dispute. The boy's mother appears to lives in Mexico, according
to federal officials.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/15678666.htm