A man who threatened to kill Hawaiian Airlines employees during a Hawaiian Airlines flight in July has entered a guilty plea under a plea deal with the federal government.
Aumoeualogo Togia pleaded guilty last week in federal court to interference with flight crew members and attendants. In return the federal prosecutor dismissed the charge of simple assault against him.
Interference with flight crew members and attendance carries a prison term of no more than 20 years, a fine of not more than $250,000 and a term of supervised release of not more than 3 years.
Togia admitted that on July 11, 2016 he drank alcohol before boarding and during an Hawaiian Airlines flight from Pago to Honolulu.
Midway into the flight, he refused to comply with the flight attendants’ instructions to take his seat due to the seat belt sign being illuminated.
The defendant became verbally and physically abusive, punched the lavatory door, and began yelling at the flight attendants and threatening to kill them.
Due to his behavior, Hawaiian Airlines employees made the decision to restrain Togia for the safety of both the crew and passengers aboard Flight 466.
According to the plea agreement, it took two flight attendants and two other passengers to restrain the defendant.
The captain was notified of the disturbance caused by Togia and the captain declared a Threat Level 1 and a cockpit lockdown.
However the threat level was upped to 2 due to the continued physical abuse created by Togia.
The plea agreement stated that as a result, the flight crew members were unable to leave the cockpit or take necessary breaks and their duties were severely impeded as a result of Togia’s actions.
Togia remained restrained and had to be accompanied by two flight crew members for the duration of the flight.
The defendant, who is out on a $25,000 unsecured bond, will be sentenced at the Honolulu federal court on January 5, 2017.
