Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993                   TAG: 9310090106
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`PHANTOM' CALLED RISK, STAYS IN JAIL

A U.S. magistrate ordered Rodney E. Bocook held without bond until next week on charges of communicating false information to in-flight aircraft near Roanoke Regional Airport.

Bocook is alleged to be the "Roanoke phantom," an imposter who used his own aviation transmitter to give bogus instructions to pilots for six weeks in August and September.

Alarmed at how easy it was for someone to purchase a transmitter through the mail and gain access to restricted frequencies, prosecutors said Bocook might go back on the air if released from jail.

"Even now, I don't know if he understands the risk he was posing to the community," Rusty Fitzgerald, assistant U.S. attorney, said.

Don Poff, a Federal Aviation Administration official who headed the task force investigating the case, testified that false instructions to aircraft could cause a midair collision.

However, authorities said it was usually obvious to pilots and air traffic controllers that the phantom was a fake, and his transmissions did not create any near-accidents.

If Bocook is convicted, he could face up to 22 years in prison.

Although the charges against Bocook are rare, what he is accused of doing is not difficult. All he had to do was spend $500 for a mail-order aviation transmitter, a device that until recently has been purchased only by airline pilots and other aviation officials.

"Technology has brought the price down to the point where people who have no real business with them can now afford them," Fitzgerald said.

According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court, Bocook, 27, used the transmitter to order incoming flights to change altitudes, switch radio frequencies or break off landings. He is also accused of using obscene language, making false Mayday calls, and posing as the pilot of a medical emergency helicopter.

At least once, the affidavit alleges, he refered to himself as the Roanoke Phantom.

After an investigation that included tracing the radio transmissions, federal authorities arrested Bocook last month in his Roanoke apartment. Police found his home full of radio and electronic equipment, FBI special agent David Frey testified.

A psychiatric evaluation has found Bocook competent to stand trial.

Bocook's attorney, Tony Anderson, argued that the charges were not serious enough to have him held without bond.

U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad indicated that he would likely release Bocook on bond under the supervision of his parents, but delayed a decision until the court can review the arrangement - probably sometime next week.