CLEARWATER - A Tarpon Springs man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing more than $86,000 in airplane parts from a Clearwater company.
Brian S. Woods, 33, was arrested Tuesday on a grand theft charge. He posted $5,000 bail and was released from the Pinellas County Jail. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement had begun investigating Woods last year. Agents said Woods stole the equipment from Lincare Inc. in Clearwater, where he worked, then sold them to March Aviation Inc. in Naples, arrest reports state. Officials from Lincare, which kept two Lear jets at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, called FDLE last year to report the missing parts. Agents said Woods, who maintained the two aircraft, was selling used parts to March Aviation rather than turning them in for discounts on new parts. He received about $20,000 for the parts, arrest reports state.