A First Class passenger on a JetBlue flight to Los Angeles from Fort Lauderdale has been arrested on charges of inappropriate sexual behavior towards two male flight attendants, but the suspect claims one of the crew members ‘solicited’ him to go to the bathroom.
Dennis Woodbury, from Los Angeles, now faces charges of abusive sexual contact onboard an aircraft after he was accused of slapping the buttock of one of the flight attendants and exposing his erect penis to both crew members in the front galley of the aircraft.
The alleged incident took place on April 13 aboard JetBlue Flight 201 from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, when Woodbury took his seat in one of the airline’s premier Mint Class seats, located towards the front of the aircraft.
The Mint Class cabin was being served by two male flight attendants who went through their section offering passengers a pre-departure beverage of sparkling Prosecco.
Woodbury allegedly polished off an entire bottle of Prosecco within three hours, although his behavior allegedly started to deteriorate way before takeoff.
With the passengers facing a mechanical delay of around one hour, Woodbury is claimed to have shown one of the flight attendants a picture of a dog on his cell phone. Behind the dog, however, was a blurred image of two men having sex, according to a criminal affidavit filed by the FBI in federal court.
When the flight attendant expressed shock at what he was looking at, Woodbury allegedly laughed and told the crew member to go on a cruise on him.
From this point, Woodbury’s inappropriate conduct only seemed to get worse.
As the flight attendants were performing the safety demonstration, Woodbury looked at one of the crew members, made a hand-pumping motion, and then got up to use the restroom even as the plane was taxiing to the runway.
Shortly after takeoff, Woodbury fell asleep, but one of the flight attendants thought it would be best to wake him and serve him a meal in order to soak up some of the alcohol he had drunk.
That same crew member walked past Woodbury with both hands full, carrying meal trays. Woodbury allegedly slapped the flight attendant’s buttocks while yelling at him, “I love you!”
The crew member decided to go to the back of the plane to tell the other flight attendants what was happening, but with him gone, Woodbury went into the forward galley and exposed the head of his erect penis to the flight attendant.
Maintaining his composure, the flight attendant responded, “Someone can watch you; this is not the place to do that.”
Woodbury initially left the galley but then returned a short time later and asked for some wine. When the flight attendant refused to serve him any more alcohol, it’s claimed Woodbury exposed himself on a second occasion.
On arrival in Los Angeles, the pilots had made arrangements for law enforcement to meet the aircraft, and Woodbury was arrested by local law enforcement. An FBI agent on duty at LAX read Woodbury his Miranda Rights and asked him to explain what had happened on board.
Woodbury said he didn’t want to talk to the FBI but added that the flight attendant had solicited him to go to the bathroom. Woodbury said that he had refused this offer.
Stop serving alcohol onboard. Most passengers cannot handle it. One drink in flight equals 2 on the ground. Why impair your passengers? They may need to evacuate quickly or respond to emergency instructions in flight. Seconds matter in emergencies. Raise the price of tickets and these problems end.