A 51-year-old felon pleaded guilty Wednesday and sentenced to two years in prison for stealing a vehicle at John Wayne Airport, causing an evacuation of passengers and incoming flights held up on runaways for hours.
Johnny Howard Hecker pleaded guilty to theft with a prior felony conviction of driving or taking of a vehicle and vandalism, both felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of trespass at an airport security inspection.
An airport operations employee saw a man in a secure area of the airport restricted to airport employees about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 20, according to sheriff’s officials.
The San Diego resident took an airport vehicle and drove it onto the airfield outside Terminal C and stopped the vehicle near a gate and attempted to drive into a secure area of the terminal, officials said.
That triggered a lockdown and evacuation about 6 p.m. Hecker was later found in a ceiling on the non-secure side of the terminal and arrested.