Teens worked for pilot accused of child rape

A wealthy pilot accused of sexually abusing nearly 20 boys over the past six years was licensed by the state to employ teens as young as 14 to work part time at his Puyallup-based aircraft-parts distribution company.

Pierce County authorities are investigating whether any of the boys that Weldon Marc Gilbert allegedly molested were among those hired to work at Spencer Aircraft.

Gilbert, 47, was arrested and charged Thursday with nine criminal counts that include child rape, molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor. The Lake Tapps man became the subject of a police investigation early last week when two men reported that he had molested their two younger brothers, ages 13 and 18.

Jeff Pratt, Spencer Aircraft vice president, said Gilbert, who is company president, often brought teens to work there. He said that Gilbert hired most of them to do yard work and building maintenance, or were there doing school projects.

"To us it was perfectly normal. These were kids who were interested in aviation," Pratt said. "They were personal acquaintances ... Marc knew the families."

Pratt said he noticed nothing suspicious about Gilbert's behavior.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Labor and Industries said Spencer Aircraft has a permit to allow minors from 16 to 18 to work in its warehouse and to allow youngsters as young as 14 to work in an office setting. Companies that want to hire minors must agree to a list of state regulations, including that the teens' jobs won't interfere with their school work and that the youths won't work around hazardous or dangerous materials, said Elaine Fischer, Labor and Industries spokeswoman.

Detectives searched Gilbert's home a week ago and seized video tapes, DVDs, floppy discs, cameras, sex toys, paddles, bondage tools, computers and two handguns, according to charging documents filed in Pierce County Superior Court. Investigators said the recordings showed at least 20 boys and teens, including the two brothers, being sexually abused and spanked.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said Tuesday that investigators believe the videos Gilbert recorded of himself abusing boys were traded with other men who made their own child-sex videos.

"It's not about the money in selling these tapes, it is about the trading. It was probably some type of underground group," Troyer said. "Somehow or another he has acquired other videos, and our concern is that he had been sending them out."

Troyer said that while most assaults were filmed in Gilbert's house, some appear to have been shot in a studio. Investigators believe Gilbert took some youths to Eastern Washington to film sexual activity.

Since Gilbert's arrest last week, sheriff's investigators have received more than a dozen phone calls from possible victims and parents concerned their children have been victimized, as well as from acquaintances of the Lake Tapps man, Troyer said.

Flying has been a passion for Gilbert since the age of 12, according to his family. He received his pilot's license at 17 and became a jumbo-jet pilot at 27.

Both his mother and Pratt said that for years Gilbert talked about how he loved mentoring youngsters, many of whom were aspiring pilots who needed guidance or financial help to reach their goals.

"He wanted to be able to help these kids further their aviation career or get through school and make good choices," Pratt said. "He did all he could to help them succeed in their goals."

Three times between 1999 and 2000, Gilbert took young, aspiring pilots on flights as part of a program sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Since 1992, more than a million children have taken free flights with pilots as part of the group's Young Eagles program, said EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski.

While Knapinski didn't have details about the flights that Gilbert piloted for them, he said that each free flight takes about 20 minutes and usually occurs at a crowded flight rally or other well-attended event. He said EAA doesn't have a record of any complaints about Gilbert.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com