Disruptive Jetliner Passenger Sentenced To Prison
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Brazilian man who caused a jetliner flight to be diverted to Cedar Rapids has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison.
U.S. District Court records say 34-year-old Guilherme Alves De Melo was sentenced Tuesday in Cedar Rapids and told to pay nearly $4,800 restitution to American Airlines for the cost of diverting the flight. He'd pleaded guilty to intimidating a flight crew member.
Court records say that on June 23, Alves became disruptive and "lost it" about an hour before the plane was scheduled to land in Chicago. The plane had taken off from Calgary, Canada. That led some passengers to restrain him with zip ties provided by the flight crew before the plane was diverted to eastern Iowa.
Alves was charged in Iowa with disorderly conduct for yelling obscenities as he was arrested by Cedar Rapids police. He pleaded guilty to that charge the next day and paid a $100 fine.
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