Juan Rivas, who threatened flight attendants with a champagne bottle and a plastic knife, tried to open an exit door of an American Airlines plane, prosecutors said.
A California man who tried to intimidate flight attendants on an American Airlines flight using plastic silverware from a service cart and a glass champagne bottle, and then tried unsuccessfully to open an exit door and the cockpit, was sentenced on Wednesday to 19 months in prison.
The man, Juan Remberto Rivas, 52, was arrested and charged with interfering with flight crew members on Feb. 13, 2022, after a flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
During the flight, Mr. Rivas, who, according to court records, admitted to using methamphetamines before the flight, began to panic and told flight attendants that the plane was not moving and that his family was in danger, court records said.
His behavior led to a physical struggle that forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Rivas, who pleaded guilty in January, had faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison but prosecutors sought a sentence of 41 to 51 months despite him threatening to “bring down the plane,” court records and the attorney’s office said.
“The government believes that the defendant’s actions were reckless because of his use of methamphetamine, rather than an intentional effort to bring down the aircraft,” the prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker, argued in a sentencing memorandum.
Angela L. Williams, an assistant public defender representing Mr. Rivas, asked for a sentence of time served and three years of supervision. She did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday night.
Other passengers on the flight recounted the harrowing experience to the F.B.I.
About two hours into the flight, Mr. Rivas began causing a disturbance at the front of the plane by making assertions that his family was in danger, according to an affidavit prepared by a special agent from the F.B.I.
As he continued to get more anxious, Mr. Rivas suddenly took a plastic knife from a drink cart and used it as a shank to try to intimidate the flight attendants.
He then grabbed a small champagne bottle by the neck and tried to shatter it on the counter while also trying to jimmy open the cockpit door with one hand, according to court records.
Later, a flight attendant hit Mr. Rivas in the head with a coffee pot to try to subdue him.
Mr. Rivas, who is listed in court documents as being 6 foot, 3 inches tall and weighing 240 pounds, then wrangled out of the grasp of people trying to contain him and tried to open the exit door with his foot, court records said.
Eventually, flight attendants and other passengers were able to subdue Mr. Rivas using handcuffs, duct tape and zip ties until the plane completed its emergency landing, according to the federal prosecutor’s office and court said.
As he was being taken into custody, Mr. Rivas assaulted arresting law enforcement officers and tried to flee, prosecutors said.
“A number of officers were injured in his attempt to flee, resulting in contusions, lacerations, and an injured hand,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. “Mr. Rivas faces a pending charge in Platte County, Mo., for assault against a law enforcement officer.”
As part of his sentence, Mr. Rivas was ordered by Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark of U.S. District Court in Kansas City to pay American Airlines more than $60,000, prosecutors said.
In May, a man was ordered to pay United Airlines $20,638 in restitution for being physically aggressive during a flight from London to Newark.