News - Local
Man punished for disrupting flight diverted to Springs
Posted: May 21, 2010 5:49 PM by David Ortiviz
Updated: May 21, 2010 5:49 PM
A Virginia man accused of disrupting a cross-country flight, leading to diversion of the plane to Colorado Springs, has been sentenced to three months in federal prison.
A federal judge in Denver also ordered 47-year-old Muhammad Abu Tahir of Glen Allen, Va., Friday to pay $14,584 in restitution to AirTran Airways. Tahir was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Tahir was arrested Jan. 8 after the plane, flying from Atlanta to San Francisco, was diverted to Colorado Springs. Authorities say he drank five mini-bottles of wine, locked himself in a lavatory to shave and then became unruly when he was asked to return to his seat.
Two military jets followed the plane as a precaution. Tahir pleaded guilty in March to interfering with a flight crew.
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