Texas pilot faces prison for alleged threats

According to the criminal complaint unsealed after the defendant was arrested on July 12, Patrick Trevor White of Waco, Texas, had been given a conditional offer of employment as chief pilot for an unnamed Florida employer in February, subject to a pre-employment medical screening that included an alcohol test, which White allegedly failed in March because of a measured blood alcohol level of .04.

Five days of harassing phone calls to the director of operations of the would-be employer followed, according to the complaint. After a pause of several weeks, White allegedly resumed calling the director of operations in June, leaving a voicemail that was taken as a veiled threat: “I hope you like the smell of [barbeque],” and “I love the street you live on,” White said in the recorded message, according to the complaint.

The alleged victim of White’s harassment then received a series of text messages, reiterating and expanding on the previous voicemail. “I had an epiphany a vision if you will someone that you love is going to die in the next 14 days and its not in my will nor will it be from my hand, but it is going to happen. I would start praying if I was you.”

The alleged victim told investigators that they believed White’s renewal of communication in late June was prompted “because he [White] attempted to renew his FAA airman medical and was notified he was unable to do so because of the pending [alcohol] violation. This would render [White] unable to fly an aircraft legally.”

FAA airman registration records available online do not include a conclusive match for the charged individual. 

The alleged victim told investigators that another voicemail from White followed on July 2, a profanity-laced tirade that included a more direct threat to “kill” the victim. “I’m being evicted from my place residence because of … your actions,” followed by multiple explicit and profanity-laced threats to “kill you.”

The victim reported the threatening calls and texts to the FAA on July 2, as well as to local police in Jacksonville, Florida. An agent for the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General signed the criminal complaint. The case is being investigated by the DOT OIG in conjunction with the FAA.

According to court records, White posted $25,000 bond on July 16, and has been released from federal custody subject to various conditions, including that he surrenders his passport, does not use alcohol “excessively,” and wears a GPS location monitor. A federal public defender was appointed to represent White on July 15.

White is charged with violating a federal law that stipulates up to five years in prison, with or without additional fines, if he is convicted of transmitting via interstate communication “any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.”