Flight Attendant Sentenced for Setting Fire to Plane

Eder Rojas

A former flight atendant for Compass Airlines has been sentenced to six years in prison for setting fire to an airplane carrying 72 passengers and four crew members.

Eder H. Rojas, 23, said he was upset with the route he had been assigned. So, on his next flight from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Rojas set fire to the paper towels in the aircraft's rear lavatory.

The crew made an emergency landing in Fargo, N.D., and there were no injuries in the May 7, 2008 incident.

Rojas, a Mexican national who formerly lived in Woodbury, Minn., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson on a charge of setting an aircraft on fire.

Judge Erickson sentenced Rojas to six years’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Rojas was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $98,408 and to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victim's Fund. A charge of failure to appear was dismissed as part of the plea agreement in this matter.

Fled to Mexico

Rojas was originally scheduled for trial in September of 2008 and was placed in a halfway house in Fargo pending trial. On the eve of his trial, Rojas fled to Mexico. Rojas was returned to North Dakota on Aug. 3, 2011, through the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service.

“Securing the safety of air travelers in the United States is an important mission of law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon. “The sentence imposed in this case should send the message that those who tamper with that safety will pay the price.”