Judge Sends Assailant of Pilot Home
An Australian man who kicked a pilot in the groin and assaulted eight other people during a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles was ordered deported Friday and placed in the care of his psychiatrist.
Erickson Alfonso Morales, 30, pleaded guilty in January to a federal felony count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.
On Friday, he expressed remorse for his violent outburst, blaming it on “too much wine,” combined with antidepressants.
U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie sentenced Morales to four months already served behind bars and ordered that Morales be released to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which will send him back to Australia and to the care of his regular psychiatrist.
Prosecutors said Morales grabbed at three flight attendants on the Air New Zealand flight last November and shouted obscenities and threats at them and at other passengers. He also pinned a female passenger against a cabin wall, according to the government.
When crew members tried to put Morales in restraints, he kicked the pilot. He was arrested when the plane landed in Los Angeles and was held without bail at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center.
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