The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office has announced the arrest of a suspect after a stolen aircraft landed on Half Moon Bay Beach. Around 5 p.m. on February 8, 2024, San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a small airplane having landed near a beach in Half Moon Bay, California.

A search of the area led to a plane just south of Poplar Beach, according to SMCSO. The plane was intact and unoccupied. Sheriff’s Deputies located a person matching the description of the individual spotted observed landing and walking away from the plane.

SMCSO said it was determined that the plane had been stolen from an airport in Palo Alto. According to authorities, 50-year-old Luiz Gustavo Aires of Miami was identified as the individual seen walking away from the plane. He was arrested and booked into the Maguire Correction Facility for Theft of an Airplane.