As Travel Noire reported last year, an unruly passenger had to be duct-taped on a plane after causing quite a disturbance on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami. Now, the passenger, Maxwell Berry, must face the consequences of his actions.
According to CBS News, he has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and one year of supervised release. Berry was sentenced in a U.S. District Court in Miami after pleading guilty to three counts of assault.
In August 2021, Berry touched two female flight attendants’ breasts, before yelling out that his parents were worth $2 million dollars along with a host of other obscenities. A male flight attendant intervened and Berry punched him.
The incident began with Berry brushing his cup against one crew member’s backside. Then, he went to the aircraft’s bathroom to change his shirt after spilling his drink. However, he came out shirtless. As two female flight attendants helped him find another clean shirt in his luggage, he sexually harassed the women, touching their breasts.
Berry was duct-taped to a seat on the plane and arrested at Miami International Airport. Videos of the incident went viral online.
Two of Berry’s victims were in court, local station WPLG reported. Jordan Galarza, the flight attendant who Berry punched, was one of them.
“You can say it looked a bit barbaric, but it worked perfectly and no one got hurt because of how we did what we did,” Galarza said of the duct tape restraint.
In negotiating a plea agreement, Berry’s lawyers wanted to secure a sentencing agreement that included an alternative plan to jail. According to them, a non-incarcerated sentence would be “sufficient but not greater than necessary to achieve justice in this case.”
“Max Berry is a good man who committed a bad act, that was not planned, it was committed in an unsophisticated manner, and it is an aberration,” said the document obtained by CBS News.
The court, however, decided that in addition to the 60 days, Berry could still receive up to six months in prison for each count, totaling 1.5 years, plus one year supervised release. The court also said he could face a fine of $5,000 for each count, totaling a sum of $15,000.
Related: Southwest Passenger Who Punched Flight Attendant Sentenced To 15 Months Prison Time