Case ID: so2d_496/html/0995-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

In re the Matter of the FORFEITURE OF ONE 1968 CESSNA 310 SERIAL # 0037 REGISTRATION NO. 41370. Walter C. HEINRICH, Sheriff of Hillsborough County, Appellant, v. Timothy MADDEN, Appellee.
    No. 86-6.
    District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
    Nov. 5, 1986.
    
      David Farash, Tampa, for appellant.
    James V. Caltagirone, P.A., Tampa, for appellee.
   PER CURIAM.

The Sheriff of Hillsborough County, Walter Heinrich, appeals from an order denying the forfeiture of a 1968 Cessna 310 aircraft.

The Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act defines contraband to include “any ... vehicle of any kind ... which has been or is actually employed as an instrumentality in the commission of, or in aiding or abetting in the commission of, any felony.” § 932.-701(2)(e), Fla.Stat. (1985). Here, the appel-lee’s airplane was an element of the felony offense of reckless operation of an aircraft and not an instrumentality used in the commission of, or in aiding or abetting in the commission of a felony in violation of the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. Thus, the trial court correctly dismissed the sheriffs petition.

Affirmed.

DANAHY, C.J., and SCHEB and RYDER, JJ., concur.