WATERLOO -- A Clear Lake businessman parked one of his planes at Waterloo Airport airport after it developed engine problems about five years ago.

And sometime later, he discovered the aircraft had been stripped of tens of thousands of dollars of parts.

"It's just sitting there on the ground … flat on its belly," said Jerry Dwyer, 75-year-old former overseer of the Mason City Airport who has been flying since age 13 and now runs an aircraft sales company and air charter and freight businesses.

The twin-engine 1973 Piper Seneca now sits behind a building at the Waterloo Airport with missing motors and wooden pallets where the landing gear used to be.

Capt. Bruce Arends of the Waterloo Police Department said a rural Cedar Falls man was the one who removed the parts -- which include the aforementioned engine and landing gear as well as an instrument panel, autopilot and seats -- to use them on an airplane he was building himself.

Police arrested John M. Nocero, 48, of 2989 Jepsen Road, Tuesday for first-degree theft.

Nocero, who was listed as an officer with the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

Dwyer said the Seneca landed in Waterloo because one of its engines blew while in flight, and he kept it there because he was having trouble finding a replacement engine.

The police report said the aircraft had been at the airport for about five years.

In August 2004 Dwyer noticed a Lycoming engine and a propeller had been removed, and in the following months the landing gear and other components had disappeared.

Not only was the equipment taken, part of the airplane was damaged in the process, Dwyer said.

"He chopped a hole in the side of the damn thing to get the autopilot out. He's basically ruined the airplane," he said.

Even with the blown engine, the plane was worth about $100,000 as he left it, Dwyer said. He estimated it will take about $50,000 to replace and install the missing parts, and it will take a long time because the process involved having the repair certified by federal flight officials.

The police report estimates the valued of the stolen engine at $10,000. Autopilot parts and landing gear are also estimated at $10,000 apiece. Seats and the missing instrument panel are estimated at $1,000 each.

Arends said Nocero took the parts to a workshop area at his Cedar Falls home and intended to use them to build his own airplane.

Dwyer said he doesn't know Nocero, and court records state Dwyer never gave anyone permission to remove the missing items from the airplane.

Nocero told police he took the gear, records state.

Nocero was booked at the Black Hawk County Jail and let out a few hours later on pre-trial release.

First-degree theft is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.