EBN- YouTuber and former Olympian Trevor Jacob has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he intentionally crashed his plane to “gain online views.”
The 30-year-old California man deliberately downed his plane while filming the stunt in Santa Barbara County on Nov. 24, 2021, according to a news release from the Department of Justice, published Monday. He then hid the evidence from investigators.
The clip was viewed millions of times.
In a plea agreement, Jacob said he filmed the video as part of a product sponsorship deal.
The former Olympic snowboarder and YouTuber pleaded guilty earlier this year to one felony count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
Jacob “most likely committed this offence to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain”, federal prosecutors in California said on Monday.
“Nevertheless, this type of ‘daredevil’ conduct cannot be tolerated,” they added.
In a statement, Jacob said that “this experience has been so humbling” and described the sentence as the “right decision”.
In November 2021, Jacob left a Santa Barbara, California, airport on a solo flight with cameras mounted on his plane. Along with the cameras, Jacob took a parachute with him, as well as a selfie stick.
