Ex-Flight Attendant Sentenced To 18 Months For Bomb Threats Against United Airlines
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former United Airlines flight attendant was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison for making bomb threats against his own company.
Patrick Cau, a 41-year-old German citizen who also uses the last name Kaiser, pleaded guilty in August in federal court to making eight bomb threats against United between October 2012 and January 2013, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Former Flight Attendant Sentenced For Making Bomb Threats Against United Airlines
Prosecutors say, in his first phone call on Oct. 4, 2012, Cau used a pay phone near his home in Dallas to call an internal United crew scheduling number and said a United flight from London to Los Angeles would be bombed later that day.
Subsequent calls to 911 from pay phones in Los Angeles, New York City, Las Vegas and Seattle also reported specific United flights would be bombed.
Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the bomb threats. Passengers were evacuated from targeted airplanes, planes were towed and travelers were searched and re-screened, along with baggage and cargo.
Cau was also ordered to pay about $305,000 in restitution to United and nearly $9,000 to reimburse the Los Angeles Police Department for expenses incurred for its response to the bomb threats. As a German citizen, Cau also faces possible deportation.
Cau worked for united for 15 years, eventually becoming a flight attended, his attorney said. American accepted Cau into its training program in March, but he was fired in April after his name appeared on a government no-fly list, an American spokesman said.
