Drunk JetBlue Passenger Gets 10Months Prison [View All]

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JetBlue passenger, drunk and disruptive, gets ticket to prison
Angry tirade ledto charges in June
By Dan Herbeck NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 02/28/08 7:23 AM


A man from Alvin, Texas, will spend 10 months in federal prison as punishment for making death threats during a drunken tirade aboard a JetBlue flight that was forced to land in Buffalo last June.

Jose Roman Jr., 27, was arrested by the FBI on June 28 after his Houston-to-New York flight was diverted to Buffalo because of his conduct on the plane.

In addition to the 10-month sentence, Roman will pay $2,867 in restitution to the airline and will be on supervised release by federal probation officers for one year after his prison term.

Roman, a passenger on the commercial flight, had become enraged because crew members stopped serving him alcoholic drinks. He threatened to shoot and kill flight crew members after the plane landed in New York, according to federal prosecutors.

“I hope this case sends a message that this kind of conduct is taken very seriously by the airlines and by the government,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy.

Roman, a furniture refinisher, was sentenced in Buffalo on Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy. Roman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with flight crew members. The maximum sentence would have been one year in prison.

“He recognizes that he has an alcohol problem, and he’s working on it,” said Roman’s attorney, Kimberly Schechter of the federal public defenders office.

Authorities said Roman’s situation was aggravated by the fact that he failed to show up for a scheduled sentencing date in December. Federal marshals arrested him in California several days later.

Crew members stopped serving alcohol to Roman because he was clearly intoxicated, but he kept demanding drinks, angrily confronted a crew member in the aisle, and then refused to return to his seat, authorities said.