TAMPA, FL — A woman was sentenced to five months in federal prison for threatening a flight attendant on flight out of Tampa International Airport, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
Jennifer Rodriguez, 37, of Puerto Rico pleaded guilty to interfering with flight attendants by assault and intimidation on July 17.
She was a passenger on a flight heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 21, 2024.
After the plane had pushed back from the gate, a flight attendant repeatedly asked Rodriguez to end a call on her cell phone.
Instead, Rodriguez began arguing with the flight attendants, “yelling at them and threatening to hit, slap, ‘beat up,’ pull their hair and drag them down the plane’s aisle by their scarves,” the DOJ said.
She also interfered with their providing medical assistance to a nearby passenger and their preparing the cabin for takeoff, the department said.
The pilot was forced to return to the gate, and the passengers were required to disembark so that Rodriguez could be escorted off the plane by law enforcement.