The warning that “smoking is bad for your health” might have a new twist for airline passenger Manolín Jesús Villaverde: Smoking cost him his freedom, after he caused an airliner to divert to San Antonio. Villaverde, who turned 36 on Wednesday, was pulled off the Continental Airlines flight Tuesday night after he became unruly when told to put out cigarettes.
FBI agents on Wednesday hauled him into federal court on a charge of interfering with flight crew members, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
A criminal complaint affidavit said Villaverde, of Miami, was on Continental Flight 1287 from Houston to Ontario, Calif., when he came out of the restroom smoking a cigarette.
