Thursday, September 15, 2011

Flight attendant accused of setting fire to Regina-bound plane pleads guilty

REGINA — Eder Rojas, the airline steward charged with setting a fire in the washroom of an airliner flying between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Regina in 2008, has agreed to plead guilty, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Fargo says.

The request by Eder Rojas is to formally be entered in court on Sept. 26 in Fargo, said Brett Shasky, who is prosecuting the case.

Rojas had originally pleaded not guilty.

After the change in pleas is recorded, it will take several months for a pre-sentencing report to be prepared and presented to the court.

“That will take, probably, a couple of months,” Shasky said Thursday.

Rojas was charged after a fire was reported in the rear washroom of an airliner flown by the regional arm of Northwest Airlines.

The fire was successfully extinguished by passengers and crew, but the aircraft quickly made an emergency landing at the airport in Fargo, North Dakota. More than 70 passengers and crew were quickly taken off the aircraft and interviewed by the FBI.

A week later, Rojas was charged with starting a fire aboard an aircraft. Media reports circulating at the time suggested Rojas was unhappy with being assigned to the night-time Minneapolis-Regina route.

Despite a request from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Fargo that he be held in custody, Rojas was released on condition he live with his father in Chicago and report every week to court authorities.

Instead, he fled and was at large for almost three years until he was found by agents of the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. He was arrested March 26 in Iguala, Mexico, near Acapulco, and returned to Fargo Aug. 3.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com

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