Dallas Pokornik, Toronto, Canadian Man Charged with Wire Fraud After Falsely Posing as a Commercial Airline Pilot to score hundreds of free flights. Former flight attendant ran scheme for 4 years according to U.S prosecutors.
A Toronto, Canada man is facing wire fraud charges after posing as an airline pilot leading to them illegally obtaining hundreds of free free flights over four years.
Dallas Pokornik, 33, a former flight attendant, according to U.S prosecutors created a fake employee identification card to receive free flights on US airlines, including in one instance, sitting in the cockpit.
Pokornik was arrested in Panama and extradited to the United States, where he now faces two wire fraud charges according to a U.S Attorney General’s Office release.
Former flight attendant used fake badge to defraud 3 US airlines.
Prosecutors say Pokornik had previously worked as a flight attendant for a Canadian airline from 2017 to 2019, but was not employed by any airline at the time of the alleged fraud.
In the years after Pokornik’s employment on that airline, prosecutors allege that Pokornik used a fake badge defrauding three US airlines out of flights reserved for pilots and flight attendants.
At one point, Pokornik requested to sit in a ‘jump seat’ in a plane’s cockpit, a spot reserved for off-duty pilots, despite not being a pilot or having an airman’s certificate, prosecutors allege in court documents.
‘Over the course of four years, [he] falsely claimed he was an airline pilot and presented a fictitious employee identification card to obtain hundreds of flights at no cost,’ Michael Nammar, the assistant US attorney prosecuting the case, wrote.
Ploy led to fake pilot accruing benefits only accruing to airline personnel
Pokornik allegedly used a fake employment badge when he was carrying out his plot.
When he did this, he asked for travel benefits typically reserved for airline pilots or flight attendants.
The US airlines are not named in the indictment but are identified as being headquartered in Honolulu, Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas.
If convicted, Pokornik faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, the Department of Justice said.
