Student Pleads Guilty in Airline Security Breach
A college student accused of hiding box cutters aboard airliners to expose security weaknesses pleaded guilty in Baltimore, and as part of a plea bargain made a video that could be used to train federal airport screeners.
Nathaniel Heatwole could get as much as six months in jail and $5,000 fine at sentencing June 24.
The 20-year-old student at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., said he committing “civil disobedience” in October when he hid box cutters and other banned items aboard two Southwest Airlines planes.
The discovery prompted the government to order stepped-up inspections of U.S. airliners.
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