(KMJ) – Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux welcomed five new employees to the Sheriff’s Office Monday. And it included the new Sheriff’s Pilot, Michelle Simoes. She will fly the Sheriff’s airplane that will arrive in May.
When Simoes had the opportunity to join the Kings County Sheriff’s Air Support Unit on a volunteer basis, she jumped at the chance. She helped start the aviation program there in early 2015 and was one of the pilots who flew the new plane to Hanford.
She said she would like to thank Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office for giving her the opportunity to get the department’s Aviation Unit back up and flying following the tragic plane crash of Sheriff One on February 10th.
That crash killed Sheriff’s Pilot James Chavez and Tactical Flight Officer Scott Ballantyne.
Simoes said she knew Chavez well as he trained her to fly the 2-seater light sport aircraft, the same airplane chosen first by the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and later by the Kings County Sheriff’s Office.
The airplane provides another tool for law enforcement in an effort to keep the community safe. These “Eyes in the Sky” help deputies on the ground locate criminals, find lost children and at-risk adults as well as patrol the county’s farmlands looking for criminals.
