Suspect in Hijacking Attempt Indicted on Air Piracy Charge

An unemployed man who was arrested Sunday, accused of trying to hijack a San Diego-bound airplane, was indicted Friday on a sole felony count of air piracy, federal prosecutors said.

Curly Leandrews Compton Jr., 55, is charged with attempting to hijack an Oakland to San Diego Southwest Airlines flight, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Burns.

If convicted, Compton, who first told authorities his name is Charles Lee Compton, could be sentenced to life in prison and draw a $250,000 fine, Burns said.

According to authorities, Compton penned a demand note--asking for $13 million--the night before the flight left Oakland, bound for San Diego and eventually to Austin, Tex., passed it to a flight attendant but then gave up on the plan.

In an interview earlier this week from his jail cell at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego, Compton told the Associated Press that he simply decided the plan wouldn’t work.

“If I’d had a bomb, I would have gone through with it,” he told the AP. “But I was sitting up there bluffing. That’s why I changed my mind.”

He also told the AP he wasn’t certain why he asked to be flown to Cuba. “I really can’t answer that question because I don’t speak Cuban,” he said.

“It’s just a place that I read a long time ago that hijackers were going,” Compton said. “It was something out of the blue. It probably wouldn’t have worked no how. I’m sorry it didn’t work.”

Compton was arrested upon arrival at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field. He remains at the federal jail.