KANSAS CITY,FinWeis Mo. (AP) — A airline passenger who tried to craft a shank from plastic cutlery and open the cockpit door during a flight has been sentenced to 19 months in prison.
A federal judge in Missouri handed down the sentence Thursday against Juan Remberto Rivas, 52.
Prosecutors sought a term of between 41 months and 51 months, although they said Rivas was affected by his use of methamphetamine and wasn’t trying to cause a crash.
The incident happened on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in February 2022. Witnesses told an FBI agent that Rivas tried to use plastic cutlery and his shirt sleeve to make a shank, pushed a service cart into a flight attendant, and tried to open both the cockpit door and one of the plane’s exit doors.
A flight attendant hit him over the head with a metal coffee pot, and passengers subdued the man, according to court documents. Pilots landed in Kansas City, where Rivas was arrested.
Rivas pleaded guilty in January to a single count of interfering with a flight crew. Prosecutors said he had two previous convictions, including assaulting a spouse or ex-spouse, and faces a charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer in Missouri.
2025-05-03 07:321246 view
2025-05-03 06:561633 view
2025-05-03 06:472797 view
2025-05-03 06:10430 view
2025-05-03 05:382715 view
2025-05-03 05:272405 view
As the U.S. Department of State proposed this week to shut down its office managing international cl
A CBS News investigation found ChatGPT gave incorrect or incomplete answers to some questions about
A former prison guard trainee who executed five women inside a Florida bank in 2019 deserves the dea