Southwest Rehired a Pilot Who Allegedly Raped a Flight Attendant
The current SWA captain pled down in the case of a brutal rape he denies. They both still work at the airline
TW: Brief description of sexual assault
Today I’m reporting on the case of a current Southwest Airlines captain charged with sexually assaulting a flight attendant who was forced to continue working with him if she wanted to keep her job. As you read how events unfolded, keep two things in mind:
This is just one example of a flight attendant in this industry expected to work with her alleged assailant. This is an institutional problem that needs disrupting. Commercial airlines have normalized victims/survivors working under pilots who have multiple credible reports against them and, as author and rape survivor Myriam Gurba put it, “Rather than address whatever elements of the institutional culture are enabling [the abuse], they shut down the messaging.”
The airlines’ Old Boys’ Club operates with virtual impunity, ensuring women continue to be victimized, and management punishes anyone who speaks up. The quieter your footsteps, the happier they are. Put on your heaviest boots and make yourself known, because it’s the silence that protects them.
You’ll remember I wrote about legal documents that surfaced earlier this month, which included an account of a married male Southwest Airlines (SWA) captain making sexual advances toward a flight attendant mid-flight, then making racist death threats against her after she turned him down. The FBI proved this using DNA and fingerprints.
The pilot wasn’t even reprimanded, let alone terminated.
Retired Delta Captain Karlene Petitt took those revelations to the next level in her post, adding new details and naming a bunch of Southwest’s finest.
She wrote about this Southwest Captain and a sexual assault case he was involved in in Nevada.
I’ve dug up more on that one.
An Alleged Brutal Rape and a Plea to Avoid Trial
I’m still working on full details, but the skeleton of the story outlined in police reports and court papers and by sources is enough to grasp how it unfolded. (I reached out to the pilot who was arrested on rape charges for comment on the details of this story, but haven’t received a response as of press time).
As I understand it:
On September 28, 2002, during a layover in Las Vegas, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant or someone she went to for help called police reporting a brutal rape. The captain of her flight had gained entry to her hotel room by asking to use her bathroom, police were told. He then allegedly pushed her onto the bed and sexually assaulted and raped her.
The victim was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where medical professionals and police identified lacerations, abrasions and bruises they believed backed up her claim she’d been raped.
He was arrested and jailed overnight. On Sept. 29, he bonded out for $23,000.
On October 2, 2002, he was charged with two counts of sexual assault, both felonies and both of which he denied, as outlined in the court papers filed that day:
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
The State of Nevada v. [man who is a current Southwest captain]. Filed: October 2, 2002.
The defendant above named…
COUNT 1: - SEXUAL ASSAULT
did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously sexually assault and subject…a female person to sexual penetration, to-wit: [redacted description of forced oral sex].
COUNT 2: - SEXUAL ASSAULT
did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously sexually assault and subject …a female person to sexual penetration, to-wit: [redacted description of forced intercourse].
I’m told there was no prior relationship between the pilot and the flight attendant beyond a cordial working one expected of colleagues occasionally thrown together by schedulers. Both the victim and alleged assailant were married at the time, as I understand it.
Also as I understand it, the current Southwest airlines captain denied committing the assault.
The Aftermath
As legal proceedings stretched into 2003, I’m told county prosecutors were willing to take the case to trial but advised that the victim could avoid a prolonged and traumatic case, including travel to and from Vegas—she was not a Nevada resident—if her alleged assailant was allowed to plea to lesser charges.
In April of 2003, court papers say, an agreement was reached “to amend this matter to coercion, a 1-6 year felony…the Defendant unconditionally waives his right to a preliminary hearing and agrees to enter an Alford plea to the aforementioned coercion. The Defendant agrees to stay out of trouble for one year; continue counseling as appropriate; to continue participation in Alcoholics Anonymous; and remain alcohol free during the following one year.”
If the man met these conditions, the plea reads, “he will enter a plea of no contest to a misdemeanor, disorderly conduct, and the Defendant shall be fined $500.”
(An Alford plea means he does not admit guilt, but accepts the sentence imposed upon him). In the end, he was convicted of a misdemeanor.
During this time, Southwest said they terminated the pilot, and the apparent firing was upheld at a system board attended by the victim.
This is where Southwest got messy.
I’m told a Southwest employee informed the victim in 2004 that the alleged rapist could be rehired after two years, and if he was, the victim wouldn’t be required to fly with him for two years after his rehire date.
But, um, if she did find herself on a flight with him, she could protest it—and she would be removed (not him) without pay. Oh, and after that two years, Southwest said they would reevaluate the ban, which meant she might be expected to regularly fly with her alleged rapist and possibly stay in hotels with him on layovers.
I’m told Southwest put in writing the airline had “investigated” and “believed” the assault took place as the victim originally reported it.
And then, around 2006, they rehired the man as a captain.
He could be flying the plane you’re on right now.
And, wouldn’t you know it, after he was hired back, I’m told the victim found herself flying with her alleged rapist, but didn’t know it until they were in the air. Oh, and his wife and kids were onboard. She bumped into him a second time at work, too, and, I am guessing, could do nothing but try her best to remain calm.
The other odd thing is that a source tells me he was receiving long-term disability after his termination, which is super weird because why is a fired criminal still getting paid via Southwest’s insurers? (Southwest has not responded to my request for comment).
It’s notable, too, that this case stems from a 2002 crime, which means the victim has spent that many more days and years going to work possibly worrying, possibly highly stressed, wondering if she’s going to come face-to-face with alleged rapist in the course of doing her job. This is untenable.
It’s also interesting that Nevada now has its own lookback window, which suspends the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits.
So here we are. If you’d like to be an ally to victims/survivors, please share their stories, discuss, engage, and speak out. It’s time for this culture to die.
As I continue to learn about new and horrifying abuse and coverups at the airlines, I can’t help but think how there’s no reverse equivalent. Imagine if there was an epidemic* of women groping, grabbing, forcibly kissing male pilots or retaliating against them for saying no, busting into their hotel rooms on layovers, drugging men’s drinks and raping them? Then imagine these prolific female criminals were let off the hook while their male** victims were told by bosses, Yeah, she still works here, tough luck, your rapist is your superior, deal with it. Doesn’t happen. It’s time for consequences.
* We know there are specific cases that are effectively exceptions that prove the rule. Of course men aren’t villains and women aren’t angels. That’s not what we’re doing here. I don’t play the Not all men game, because that’s a given. The fact remains that most rapists are men and most men are not rapists.
** There are male sexual assault victims at the airlines, but I have not heard from any; there is a race element to who gets victimized at the airlines that I have not addressed on this platform yet; and finally, to my knowledge I have not heard from any LGBTQIA victims/survivors so for now I talk about women and men.
About me
I’m an award-winning journalist and bestselling author with decades of international experience writing for magazines and newspapers including People, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Sunday Times Magazine (UK), Glamour, Shape, Epicurious.com, and more.
My crime reporting includes the most high-profile cases of the past decades. I’ve been sent to Italy to report on the Amanda Knox case, Portugal to cover Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, London to cover the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings, L.A. for the death of Michael Jackson, and Sandy Hook, Conn. to cover the horrific school shooting, to name a few.
My 2021 memoir/military history book The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army was an overnight #1 bestseller on Amazon in 2021. Said former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, “The Strong Ones provides an inspirational message for our times.”
I was the first-ever recipient of the Jane Cunningham Croly Award for Excellence in Journalism Covering Issues of Concern to Women from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Winners after me included Marianne Pearl, and judges were legends in journalism like Judy Woodruff. I contributed to the feminist anthology LETTERS OF INTENT (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 1999) alongside such icons as Gloria Steinem, Ntozake Shange and Judy Blume, receiving a noted review from the New York Times. I am the author of a total of 13 fiction and nonfiction books.