Buzz Over My Head!

Creeper flies over a woman's home.

You can't fix stupid.

A New York woman gave up the suits to run a business in a small town called Schuylerville. For four years, the woman kept hearing a small plane buzzing around her home. It was weird.

What the Saratoga County Sheriff's Department called it, malicious stalking.

A 65 year old predator is arrested after being charged with reckless engagement and stalking. It all started from a simple conversation and a flirt. Then the pilot was sent emails of himself in inappropriate sexual positions. Then it was phone calls, harassment and thus the fly overs and tomatoes on the roof of her home.

He was a registered pilot until his arrest. 

Cassie Wilusz recorded and documented the number of times this pilot flew over her restaurant and home. The woman is a widow and mother of a teen. She feared that pilot was going to either crash into her home or business.

She and her family have been awakened at 7 a.m. at least three times a week by the sound of a single-engine Cessna, piloted by a local man, rumbling above her house. It flies so close to her roof and those of her neighbors that windows and doors rattle. And on one occasion, Wilusz alleged, the pilot pelted her home and yard with tomatoes.

The freakshow was finally arrested.

“He is terrorizing us,” Wilusz said. “He flies so close to the house that it feels like he’s going to go through it. It’s a nightmare that just doesn’t stop.”

Wilusz has spent years trying to get relief from law enforcement and the Federal Aviation Administration, but little had been done. Police in the past have told her it’s an FAA matter because they don’t patrol the airspace. The FAA said it fully investigated her allegations and that “the agency was unable to obtain evidence that the pilot violated federal aviation regulations,” a spokesperson confirmed to the Times Union.

Wilusz said the trouble started in October 2019 after Michael J. Arnold came in for some soup at the café. That afternoon, he allegedly emailed her a picture of himself partially clothed, bound in bed, along with a group of photos of young, nude women. In the email, which the Times Union reviewed, Arnold talked about going to Costa Rica, spending time with two girlfriends “at the nudie resort in Jaco Beach,” telling her “it’s fun.”

Wilusz said she didn’t immediately know who the man in the email was and then it came to her — he was a customer. 

“Then he started flying over my house, sending me pictures of my house, my pool, my backyard, of me, my family, my friends,” she said. “He tells me karma is going to get me. He said I killed my dad" — who died in a fire in 2017 — and I’m going to kill my husband. I called the police, but it never stops.”

But in November, Wilusz was hopeful. She sparked the interest of a trooper at the State Police who followed the case and ultimately arrested Arnold on misdemeanor stalking charges; the town court clerk said town Justice Charles Sherman then issued a restraining order. But Arnold, she alleges, has kept buzzing her home. The last time he flew over was May 23 — one day after her 48-year-old husband David Alexander died of cancer.

Wilusz alleges Arnold drives by her home and her restaurant, the Revolution Café, a popular eatery in the village that is across the street from the Schuylerville schools. He was spotted there on May 25 when CBS6 was interviewing her about the alleged aerial stalking.

New York business owner doesn't want other women to be a victim.

The Times Union could not reach Arnold or his attorney, Katherine DeMartino, for comment.

Schuylerville Mayor Dan Carpenter and school Superintendent Gregg Barthelmas also have been frustrated.

Carpenter blames the justice system for not bringing the harassment to a stop.

“He’s flying lower than what we feel is acceptable, and it’s loud,” Carpenter said. “We see this as harassment of the whole community. Then last year he dropped tomatoes in her yard. ... What’s stopping him from dropping something heavier? ... The police say they are doing everything they can, but it’s not been resolved. It’s been four years.”

Barthelmas says he’s in full support of village officials who want the plane to be grounded, because it often makes turns over the school.

“I would be the happiest man in the world if I never saw that plane again,” Barthelmas said.

Pretty stupid.

On Thursday, following the CBS6 report, Arnold was arrested by Saratoga County sheriff’s deputies for criminal contempt, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest, Sheriff Michael Zurlo confirmed. All the charges are misdemeanors. He will now face further proceedings in Saratoga County town courts this month. He was arrested at Saratoga County Airport, where he parks his 1976 Cessna.

Wilusz said she just wants the harassment to stop.

“I can’t live like this anymore,” she said. “Something has to happen.”

The predator was barred from contact with Wiluz, barred from owning firearms and operating his airplane. The FBI is also investigating if this predator has other victims. 

The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

Suspect faces 10 years if convicted.