FORT WORTH, Texas – A Hallandale Beach man is set to learn his fate in May after pleading guilty to attacking an American Airlines gate agent at the airline’s Dallas Fort Worth International Airport hub back in October.
Keith Charles Owens, 53, faces up to 10 years in federal prison following his plea in Fort Worth federal court.
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He pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of knowingly interfering with security personnel after prosecutors said he drunkenly assaulted the airline worker on Oct. 5. Under federal law, gate agents are considered to have “security duties.”
FBI Special Agent Kurt Duross wrote in a criminal complaint that the incident began after Owens went to the wrong gate.
Duross wrote that CCTV footage from just before 4:45 p.m. showed Owens bypassing the boarding line at Gate A36 and placing his ticket on the scanner. It didn’t scan, he wrote.
According to the complaint, the gate agent told investigators that Owens was “upset” and said he was “late.”
The complaint states that the gate agent told investigators he told Owens he was at the wrong gate and directed him to Gate A35.
Authorities said the gate agent radioed ahead to staff at Gate A35 that Owens was “headed that way and appeared to be intoxicated.”
Investigators said that the video footage showed Owens, wearing a red sports jersey shirt with the number 81 on it, walking onto the Gate A35 jet bridge without scanning his ticket.
“AA personnel stop Owens and have him leave the jet bridge,” Duross wrote. “Owens is visibly upset in the CCTV footage, at one point he aggressively approaches an AA employee behind the ticketing counter.”
Authorities said Owens went back to Gate A36, where footage showed him grabbing the original gate agent “by the shoulders and the neck,” pushing him back and then punching him “several times in the face and neck.”
“(The gate agent) pushes Owens back, at which point Owens falls to the ground and is restrained by other AA personnel,” Duross wrote.
Authorities said the gate agent received medical treatment at the airport and had to visit the doctor three days later for additional treatment.
Duross wrote that Owens’ actions delayed the flight heading out of Gate A36 and “caused numerous AA employees to be out for several days.”
The complaint doesn’t state where he was supposed to be flying to.
In a statement following Owens’ arrest, an American Airlines spokesperson said, “Acts of violence are not tolerated by American Airlines and we have been working closely with law enforcement on their investigation of this incident. We thank our team members for their professionalism in managing a difficult situation.”
Owens’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 2.