Hey Guys,
Not your typical "they broke into my garage and stole my jet" story, but it was stolen nonetheless. I am posting this on behalf of my friend Chris Setting (pictured below) who is a more than capable pilot, but he's not very computer savvy.
Chris advertised his Bandit ARF for sale and was contacted by Freddy Del Rosario. The struck a deal for $4k, less Rx and turbine on Oct 15th . Freddy was in a hurry to receive the jet and wanted to fly it that weekend. Rob Lynch spoke with Chris and said he knew Freddy and would vouch for him. To be clear, Rob is not implicated at all here, just mentioned as a side note to explain why things happened the way that they did.
Freddy was supposed to wire transfer the money on Oct 17th. Since he was in a hurry to fly it, and Rob had vouched for him, Chris agreed to ship immediately the same day as the transfer so Freddy could have it to fly that weekend. He shipped it on the 17th the same day as the transfer was supposed to take place. Chris made a huge mistake here, and he realizes that, but was trusting with Rob's input.
Long story short the transfer or any other paynment never happened. Plenty of excuses "I'm doing a cash deposit, you're bank isn't local to me" blah blah blah. In the mean time Freddy has received the jet, proceeded to fly it for 3+ months and post the videos on youtube, all the while leaving Chris hanging with excuse after pathetic excuse. The latest is that he has "sent a money order" on two separate occasions (which Chris obviously has never received) "somebody has cashed them". Freddy now claims he's out the $4K and will not talk to, respond to emails or correspond in any way with Chris. Chris has been more than patient with with Freddy's excuses & lies because he's way too nice. I was not aware of the situation until today, that's why I'm posting this. As you can see Chris is in a wheel chair, I helped pack the jet to ship .
Video of the stolen jet flying at Markham Park:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-hh9r9Yq6g
Chris is offering a $250 reward to anyone who retrieves his Bandit.
Chris has retained a lawyer, and a police report is being filed in Freddy's jurisdiction. Why post this all here? Simply to warn others in the jet community of this thief so that they won't also get burned, and some small hope that someone in the community can put some pressure on this dirt bag to do the right thing. If anyone has any info, please PM me here.
Thanks
Red