Christina Elizabeth Szele, who assaulted JetBlue airline employees while intoxicated during a flight last summer, was sentenced to five years of probation Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The New York woman already has spent four months in a halfway house.
The sentence handed down by Senior Judge John L. Kane also bars her from flying on a commercial aircraft for five years.
Kane urged Szele, 35, to clean up her life and said if she violates the terms of her probation, he “was not going to be the least bit sympathetic.”
“If it happens again, you will pay a very heavy price for it,” he said.
Szele decided not to make a statement, but her attorney mentioned that she had written letters of apology to the JetBlue crew.
In November, Szele pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew on the New York-to-San Francisco flight June 17.
The airplane was diverted to Denver International Airport.
Authorities said she became enraged after a flight attendant took matches and a lit cigarette from her.
Szele told an FBI agent that she drank two beers at home and then was served three vodka drinks in flight.
Authorities said flight attendant Paul Whyte took the cigarette away from Szele, who yelled obscenities and racial epithets at Whyte, who is black.
Szele was restrained but was able to break out of a pair of flex cuffs. When Whyte attempted to place a second pair of cuffs on Szele, she punched him and said she would find his address and kill him.
An FBI agent testified she also attacked a JetBlue ground-security coordinator who happened to be on the flight and was asked to sit next to Szele.
After her arrest, she was allowed to return to New York on pretrial release but twice tested positive for cocaine. Kane told Szele that she is going to have to tackle her problems with alcohol and substance abuse.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
