http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0408necopterfolo.html

Downed pilot is accused of trashing home

Jim Gold The Arizona Republic Apr. 8, 2006 12:00 AM

One man's emergency shelter apparently is another's ransacked home.

Jay Torok of Scottsdale said he found his new $400,000 house on a ranch southeast of Kingman a shambles Friday after a helicopter pilot busted a window to get in.

The pilot, Aaron Temple of Las Vegas, was en route to Boulder City {check} from Scottsdale on Wednesday when, he told authorities, a fire broke out in his helicopter and he set it down in the Aquarius Mountains east of Wikieup.

Temple made it to Torok's home, one of 14 built on a 50,000-acre ranch being developed into housing tracts.

"He helped himself to my food; he slept on the sofa; he built a fire in my fireplace and left my clothes wet and in a big pile here," Torok said. Temple, back in Nevada, could not be reached for comment.

Mohave County sheriff's officers say the pilot told them he broke in to survive a cold, wet night and "borrowed" Torok's all-terrain vehicle to travel 14 miles to Arizona 93 to seek help.

"This was basically a survivor thing," said Trish Carter, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

Search-and-rescue teams found Temple on Arizona 93, Carter said. Ranch representatives came on the scene and recovered the ATV. Officers took Temple to Wikieup, where he was to meet family, she said.

"He is willing to make restitution," Carter said, adding that the Sheriff's Office could put the two parties together.

Torok said that's not good enough; he wants Temple arrested.

Carter said the case would be reviewed if Torok files a complaint.