HOUSTON – A disruptive passenger convicted of assault and interfering with the crew on a Houston-bound Continental flight was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Robert Wade Prince, 49, of Mobile, Ala., was sentenced after pleading guilty to the charges Friday.
According to investigators, Prince was flying from Amsterdam to Houston on February 13, 2010, when – after consuming several alcoholic beverages – he grabbed the arm of a flight attendant, causing her pain.
When she asked him to let go, he refused, saying "I just got back from the Middle East and I am not going to rape you."
A male flight attendant intervened and notified one of the undercover air marshals onboard.
As the flight progressed, investigators said Prince became even more disruptive, prompting two young women seated next to him to ask for different seats.
They said Prince was harassing and touching them.
The air marshal agreed to change seats with the woman sitting next to Prince.
When the marshal tried to sit down, Prince reportedly tried to push him away, saying "You can’t sit here. This seat is for my girlfriend."
At that point, the air marshal identified himself and asked Prince to calm down. Instead, Prince elbowed the air marshal twice in the chest.
The air marshal handcuffed Prince and began escorting him to the back of the plane.
The marshal said Prince spent the rest of the flight yelling racial slurs at him.
The charges were the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Air Marshals Service and the FBI.
