The passenger of a small plane that made an emergency landing on State Route 76 in Oceanside last month pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges Thursday after authorities say responding officers found him carrying cocaine on that flight.
Troy Smith, 36, of Oceanside, appeared before a judge to enter the not guilty plea on three counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
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Authorities say he was aboard the plane piloted by 21-year-old Gabriel Breit, also of Oceanside, when they landed on SR-76 at around 1:40 a.m. on Sept. 26. Oceanside police said Smith then attempted to discard a package from his backpack into the nearby brush, which raised officers’ suspicions.
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“The subsequent investigation to that revealed approximately one kilo of suspected cocaine in the backpack that was discarded,” Oceanside Assistant Police Chief Taurino Valdovinos said at a news conference that afternoon.
The criminal complaint against Smith said U.S. Postal Inspectors had been investigating four packages of cocaine sent from the San Diego area to North Carolina beginning in 2023. Prosecutors said surveillance video from the post offices matched Smith’s driver’s license photo.
Breit and Smith had rented the plane via Plus One Flyers — a private flying club in San Diego — for a trip to Arizona and back. They had initially reported engine problems, and authorities later indicated the plane had run out of fuel.
The owner of the plane, who asked not to be identified, said it was actually pilot error.
“Ultimately, the FAA looked at the aircraft, and they said one of the tanks that were selected was dry, i.e. it didn't have any gas in it. The other tank had very little gas in it,” the owner said. “Yet this aircraft has four fuel tanks, and the other two tanks were almost full. Both of them were almost full. So it had plenty of fuel to, you know, not only to execute a proper landing at the airfield, but almost enough fuel to get to go somewhere else if they needed to.”
The plane, a Piper Cherokee Pathfinder, sat on SR-76 for hours before it was towed to the Oceanside Municipal Airport. The owner said it was damaged when it was lifted by crane in the process.
“It's a little bit of a gut punch that somebody decided to not know the aircraft as well as they're required to,” he said. “Any time a pilot, especially in this case where it's a certified flight instructor, there's an expectation that they know the aircraft. Not only do they know the aircraft, they know it well enough to understand the fuel system, which really isn't that difficult. And ultimately, you need to monitor that, you need to check that, and you need to maintain that. So in this case, that wasn't done.”
The owner said he was disappointed in the pilot as he continues to deal with the aftermath — working through insurance and trying to repair the plane.
“It's disappointment because it's set into motion a lot of things that I get to deal with now that they'll never have to deal with,” he said, adding that he never expected something like this to happen.
“I mean, this is one of those stories that you look at and you're like, holy smokes, I can't believe that you're part of this,” the owner said.
Smith declined to comment after his arraignment Thursday. Attempts to reach Breit were unsuccessful. When asked about a potential case against him, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said “no charges are currently filed.”
