KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — More than two months after a fatal helicopter crash in the mountains of Sevier County, a Utah pilot still cannot walk or sit up without help, a condition for which he's receiving ongoing physical therapy, court records state.
Matthew Jones is undergoing rehabilitation at a Veterans Administration hospital in Richmond, Va. He's been there for weeks, after the Robinson R-44 aircraft he was leasing on Dec. 29 went down along a ridge at about 2,000 feet near the Sevier-Cocke county line.
Jones' passenger and business associate, Julianne "Juli" Wagner, 36, died in the crash.
Jones was under orders at the time not to fly. A federal magistrate judge in Utah explicitly grounded him a few weeks before the crash after finding that he'd used marijuana while awaiting prosecution in Salt Lake City for wire fraud and for falsely claiming he was a certified flight instructor, records show.
Federal authorities want Jones to come back to Utah so they can proceed with prosecuting him on six counts of wire fraud and two counts of lying about his certified flight instructor status.
The chopper crash, however, has delayed the Utah case.
In January, as Jones recuperated at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, a U.S. magistrate judge in Knoxville agreed to put him on medical furlough status so he could try to get better.
Defense attorneys told the court that Jones, an Iraq War veteran, has partial paralysis with some movement in his left leg. He needs physical therapy "five to seven times weekly," court records state.
Federal prosecutors objected, arguing he'd violated conditions of release for his case in Utah, traveling all the way to East Tennessee and then crashing the helicopter.
While he's under medical care, Jones also is on "home incarceration" at the VA hospital in Virginia.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook in Knoxville agreed in a March 2 order to continue Jones' furlough.
Court records indicate that as of early March Jones needed "an additional 15 weeks of rehabilitation."
McCook will check back on Jones' status on March 28.
ADVISED NOT TO FLY
Jones and Wagner were supposed to fly the helicopter from the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport in Sevier County to Raleigh, N.C., and then on to Utah to start a business.
But Jones had been warned at the Sevier County airport against going up the afternoon of Dec. 29 because of overcast, drizzly conditions.
"The pilot had many conversations with the service center employees about leaving the area but was cautioned by all of them he spoke with about the dangers of flying in the Smoky Mountains in marginal weather," a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report states.
Jones replied he had 14 years of experience in mountain flying and what he was heading into were "hills."
A helicopter pilot told him the mountains to the east were 6,000 feet in height and "there was no way he would make it there," the report states.
Nevertheless, Jones took off. He and Wagner were aloft about 12 minutes before the crash.
An eyewitness at a campground near the crash site heard the aircraft, then saw it fly out of the fog before impact.
"Examination of the wreckage revealed all engine structural components, fuselage and flight control surfaces were accounted for at the scene," the NTSB report states.
"Both main rotor blades remained attached to the main rotor hub, and one blad was bent, but complete. The other blade was bent and impact-separated into three pieces," according to the report.
Federal authorities have retained the wreckage for further exam. Federal inquiries usually take a year to 18 months.
UTAH CASE
A federal grand jury in Utah indicted Jones in October.
He's alleged in May 2019 to have falsely claimed he was a certified flight instructor while signing a contract to train someone who wanted ratings to fly fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters.
The government alleges Jones claimed on Instagram and in texts to have certification status.
"Furthermore, Jones fraudulently withdrew approximately $10,000 from a bank account dedicated for flight instruction purposes, and instead used the funds to pay for rent, a cell phone and miscellaneous purchases from Walmart," the government alleges.
