(No caption)
The motive for this craziness is still unclear.
Tresa Baldas of the Detroit Free Press reports that an American Airlines flight attendant, Johnathan Tafoya-Montano, was arrested by the FBI on Monday following an investigation alleging that he intentionally set an aircraft bathroom on fire during a Feb. 1 flight from Dallas-to-Detroit, then pretended heroism by extinguishing it. The flight made an emergency landing in Detroit. No one was injured.
Tafoya-Montano made his initial appearance on charges of destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities and false statements or entries generally in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Wednesday afternoon. He was released on bond and taken by an FBI agent to Detroit Metro Airport, where he boarded a 3:23 p.m. American Airlines Flight back to Dallas.
The federal magistrate judge ordered the defendant to remain seated the entire flight, seated next to a corporate security officer. The paper adds:
According to court documents, the 23-year-old flight attendant from Texas made up several accident stories, but eventually admitted to authorities that he intentionally set fire to the rear lavatory's paper towels using a green colored Bic lighter, and then put the fire out once it gained intensity.
