A New York City woman was recently sentenced to four months in prison for interfering with crew members on an airplane, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Pichardo pleaded guilty in August 2017 to his crime and was sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay a monetary fine of $9,123 to American Airlines. The department released the statement in October.
Unruly and intimidating behavior, the release says, by Pichardo and her co-defendant on board a February 2021 American Airlines flight from Dallas to Los Angeles resulted in the flight to reroute to Phoenix so that the two could be removed from the flight. They had been traveling in first class. Ana Laura Botello, a lawyer for Pichardo, declined to comment on sentencing.
Her co-defendant, Leeza S. Rodriguez, is scheduled to be sentenced in November as a matter of “her guilty plea,” the Justice Department said. “There is a line between boorish behavior on an airplane and criminal activity, and the defendant clearly crossed it,” said US Attorney Gary Restaino in the press release. “First class passengers are not immune from prosecution.”
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, an association addressing in excess of 20,000 American Airlines airline stewards, said the fierce conduct showed on the flight redirected to Phoenix “should stop.”
“APFA will keep teaming up with other airline steward and client care specialist associations, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Congress to guarantee these guilty parties are indicted to the full degree of the law with suitable fines and criminal punishments,” said Julie Hedrick, the association’s public president, in a proclamation gave to CNN.
The most extreme fine for the infringement of the Class C crime for this situation is $250,000, with a greatest jail term of 20 years.
A record year for boisterous traveler conduct, 2021 finished with almost 6,000 reports to the Federal Aviation Administration.
In excess of 1,100 examinations and 350 requirement activities were started.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, with help from the Phoenix Police Department, led the examination of the episode including Pichardo.
Toward the finish of 2021, the Justice Department promised to focus on arraignment of violations on business planes.
