A Florida woman has been sentenced to nine months in jail for assaulting a flight attendant on a Frontier Airlines flight from Orlando, forcing the crew to restrain her as the pilots made an emergency diversion to Philadelphia.
Jessica Navarro, 31, will also be subject to one year of supervised release once she gets out of prison following the January 2021 assault.
Prosecutors alleged that Navarro initially became unruly when she started kicking the seats in front of her and spitting on other passengers. Visibly intoxicated, Navarro resisted the flight crew before striking a flight attendant and another passenger.
The flight ended up diverting from its intended destination of Islip in New York state to Philadelphia, where law enforcement removed Navarro from the plane.
At the time of the assault, the United States was witnessing a worrying surge in unruly passenger incidents, driven in part by face mask mandates and other pandemic-era restrictions.
“Jessica Navarro’s violent conduct endangered and traumatized passengers, and severely inconvenienced everyone aboard that plane,” commented U.S. Attorney Romero, following the sentencing.
“Air travel can already be a stressful experience, and the last thing anyone should have to deal with is such drunken and dangerous behavior en route to their destination. If you commit a federal crime aboard an aircraft, expect to be held accountable.”
Navarro pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with a flight crew, one count of assaulting a flight attendant, and one count of assaulting a passenger but was only sentenced this month.
