SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A news summary : The Local Review / DEVELOPMENTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Passenger Pleads Guilty in Attempt to Divert Flight
A passenger who threatened to kill people unless a Southwest Airlines flight was diverted from San Jose to Hollywood pleaded guilty Monday in Los Angeles federal court.
Joe Luis Mendez, 35, faces a maximum 20-year prison term for interfering with a flight crew, a felony. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of air piracy.
The episode occurred Jan. 12 shortly after Southwest Flight 923 took off from San Diego International Airport. Mendez demanded to be taken to Hollywood, but agreed to have the plane land in Burbank after being told by the captain that there was no airport in Hollywood.
He was arrested without incident when he got off the plane. No one was injured aboard the flight, which proceeded to San Jose as scheduled.
Mendez is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 22 by District Judge Audrey B. Collins.
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