Pleaded Guilty To Making False Threats Against The Airline

A former United Airlines flight attendant has pleaded guilty to intentionally giving false information to the airline and 911 operators when he phoned in bomb threats against the carrier between October 2012 and January 2013.

Patrick Cau, who is also known as Patrick Kaiser, is a 40-year-old German citizen. He recently moved from Dallas to Los Angeles. According to a report appearing on the website Courthouse News, Cau had worked for United for 15 years, attaining the position of head flight attendant.

Cau was reportedly upset with United after he filed a sexual harassment case against a male supervisor at the airline. Cau's attorney John Duran told the Canadian Press that the suit "didn't go anywhere," but gave Cau an "actual basis for his unhappiness with United."

Cau was indicted in May. In the plea agreement, he admitted to making phone calls from pay phones to a crew-scheduling number that mentioned specific flights that would be bombed. The first call in October 2012 was made from a pay phone near his home. Others came from pay phones in Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, and New York City.

The hoaxes caused considerable disruption to United's schedule, as passengers would be evacuated and searched, and planes moved to containment areas to be searched by airline officials and police dogs. Flights were delayed or canceled because of the threats.

Cau now faces five years in a federal prison. He must also pay United nearly $268,000 in restitution, as well as an amount yet to be determined to the agencies that responded to the threats. He is to be sentenced November 18.

FMI: www.cacd.uscourts.gov