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Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Interfering with Crew on Southwest Airlines Flight from Kansas City to Portland

U.S. Attorney’s Office March 09, 2010
  • District of Oregon (503) 727-1000

PORTLAND, OR—A Lubbock, Texas, man, Jesse Todd Thompson, 34, appeared in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, and entered a plea of guilty to the felony offense of interference with an airline flight crew. Senior U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty accepted the guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for May 24, 2010. A conviction of interfering with a flight crew is punishable by a maximum prison term of 20 years, a maximum fine of $250,000, two to three years of supervised release, and a mandatory $100 statutory fee assessment.

Thompson was a passenger on Southwest Airlines Flight 16 from Kansas City to Portland on the afternoon of September 28, 2009. When a flight attendant noticed Thompson was intoxicated, she refused to honor his drink vouchers. He became enraged with the attendant and told her, “No one is going to tell me what to do; I will do whatever I want to!” In addition to loud, boisterous behavior during the rest of the flight, Thompson gestured toward the flight attendant in a threatening manner. Fearing he would assault her, she moved several male passengers to seats around the six-foot Thompson. The passengers intervened and attempted to calm him down. Thompson locked himself in the rest room as the plane began its descent to Portland. Police officers of the Port of Portland arrested him for disorderly conduct and harassment when the plane reached the terminal.

Thompson has prior convictions for driving under the influence of intoxicants in Indiana and Wyoming, battery in Wyoming, and bail jumping in Texas. He will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending sentencing.

The FBI and the Port of Portland Police conducted the investigation of this case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Peifer handled the prosecution of the matter.

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