Pilot accused of stalking New York woman via small airplane, flying from Vermont

BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A man has been accused of stalking a woman in New York via his small airplane, flying out of an airport in nearby Vermont, police said.

Michael Arnold, 65, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday in Bennington, Vermont. He was arrested Tuesday as he was driving into the William H. Morse State Airport in town. Police said his single-engine Cessna 180 was at the airport and he had been flying from there.

Arnold, of Manchester, New Hampshire, had been served with a temporary order of protection from a court in Saratoga, New York, in May. A specific condition of that order was that he “cease and desist from flying any and all aircraft while the order remains in effect,” Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette said in a news release.

Police had been notified by the FBI in Albany that New York authorities had been investigating Arnold on suspicion of stalking the woman in Schuylerville, for several years, Doucette said. Schuylerville is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away from the Bennington airport.

“Officers were able to determine that Arnold was in fact flying his airplane from the William H. Morse State Airport and last seen flying west toward New York several days earlier,” Doucette said.

Arnold was charged Tuesday with aggravated stalking, impeding, false information to a police officer, and resisting arrest, Doucette said. He posted $5,000 bail. It was not immediately known if Arnold had an attorney and a phone number could not be found for him.