Just weeks after getting a stern warning to stay out of trouble from a federal judge in Denver, Christina Elizabeth Szele may have violated the terms of her probation by assaulting her sister-in-law in a drunken rage, court records show.
Szele, 36, of Woodside, N.Y., was sentenced to five years probation after she pleaded guilty to assaulting members of a JetBlue flight crew who tried to stop her from smoking in her seat on June 17.
At one point, Szele punched an African-American flight attendant and hurled racial slurs at him.
The flight was scheduled to go from New York to San Francisco, but was diverted to Denver International Airport because of the ruckus she caused on the plane.
Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane sentenced her last month to five years of probation – with the condition that she can’t fly for 5 years – and delivered a warning that he did not want to see her in his courtroom again.
He urged her to clean up her life and stay away from drugs and alcohol.
Szele then sought and received permission to fly one last time to New York to take care of some legal matters. Instead, she created one.
On Sunday, Szele was arrested in Queens, N.Y. after she was accused of punching her sister-in-law in the head and pulling her hair.
“I look in the mirror I have huge deep scratch along my ear and down the side of my neck to the middle front of my neck, a huge red mark on my nose, another puncture scratch high on my forehead and bumps on my head in the worst parts, both sides of my temples and back behind my left ear,” Maggie Marko wrote in a report to Szele’s probation officer.
Marko said that as soon as Szele got off the plane in New York last week, she immediately “went straight for shots at the bars.”
Kane has revoked Szele’s bond and she will return to his courtroom for a hearing. The judge could decide to send her to federal prison for up to 20 months.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
