CLEVELAND, Ohio — A 26-year-old man ripped up the radar equipment for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and left without getting caught, according to federal prosecutors.
Authorities arrested Issac Woolley only after he stole a second car in two hours, crashed that car through airport gates, drove on the runway and ran out of the airport, according prosecutors.
The new information came to light in a court filing by prosecutors ahead of a hearing on Monday that a magistrate judge ultimately postponed. A psychiatrist will determine whether Woolley’s mental illness prevents him from understanding the court proceedings.
The filing does not say why Woolley was able to successfully access the radar tower, located across the street from the airport, without getting caught. Nor does it say how he was later able to drive on the runway and leave the airport.
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to airport spokesman John Goersmeyer for comment.
The breaches caused the airport to be temporarily shut down and flights diverted the day before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days for travel of the year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Riedl’s filing – seeking a judge’s approval to keep Woolley jailed while the case is pending – lays out a more detailed timeline of events than previously known.
At about 7:10 p.m. Nov. 23, Woolley walked up to a woman sitting in her car, grabbed her by the neck and yanked her from the car, saying, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I need to take your car,” the filing said.
He drove the stolen car to the airport’s radar tower on Grayton Road, across the street from the airport. Woolley pulled wires from a gate, rendering it inoperable. He went inside the protective fencing surrounding the tower and turned off the radar power source on the ground level, according to prosecutors.
Woolley walked into the tower, climbed eight flights of stairs and shut off a second power source. He also ripped out several wires from the radar equipment, which Riedl said “potentially endangering the lives of thousands of airline passengers.”
The equipment monitors incoming and departing flights. The airport’s back-up radar equipment successfully activated, but the primary equipment remained broken through at least the next day, according to court records.
Woolley left the area without detection. About an hour later, he stole a second car from a woman in Fairview Park who had gotten out of her car to look for a lost pet. The woman jumped into an open passenger-side window, and Woolley drove off at 30 miles per hour with the woman hanging from the car. She fell off and suffered injuries to her legs.
Woolley drove the stolen car back to the airport. He crashed through one gate, drove down a runaway while destroying several runway lights, wrecked the car and ran through a hole in a fence.
Police found him about 30 minutes later.
Woolley told investigators that he is a veteran from overseas, wanted to “make a statement for those who don’t have a voice in society,” and that he was trying to get to Athens, Alabama, to see his children, according to the filing.
In recorded phone calls he made from jail, he said he expected a long prison sentence.
“I just Grand Theft Auto’ed two cars onto an airport. You think I’m getting two years? . . . Yeah, my a-- is probably doing life,” he said, according to the filing.
He also told investigators that he previously tried to go to Ukraine to fight the country’s war against Russia because he was “tight on money.” Investigators found family members had reported him missing in September after he left his cellphone and wallet at home. He was gone for a week. Woolley at the time told Cleveland police he did “private security and stuff like that.”
Woolley in a different jail call said he wanted to make a statement for his children.
“I did something extremely f-----g stupid. I get that. I get I did something stupid. But you know what? I would do it over and over again because those kids deserve a damn voice,” Woolley said, according to the court filing.
Woolley’s attorney, Anthony Vegh, said during Monday’s hearing that his client has “profound” mental illness and has been treated for years at Veterans Affairs hospitals.
“He has a very long and complicated mental health history,” Vegh said.
When U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jennifer Dowdell Armstrong asked if Woolley understood the purpose of Monday’s hearing, he responded: “Not really.”
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