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DOJ’s not playing with woman who stripped from bottom down on Frontier Airlines flight

February 1, 2024 | | Print Article

A Philadelphia woman who partly stripped naked aboard a Frontier Airlines flight last November has since been hit with federal charges.

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced charges of interference with flight crew members and attendants, simple assault, and indecent exposure against Dulce Huertas, 60, on Tuesday.

If convicted, Huertas faces up to 21 years and three months in prison, in addition to three years of supervised release and a $355,000 fine.

According to station WLS, the incident occurred on Frontier Airlines flight 4944 from Orlando, Florida to Philadelphia International Airport on Nov. 20th, 2023.

“Authorities say the plane was preparing to land when Dulce Huertas, 60, got out of her seat and stated she needed to go to the bathroom,” the station reported Wednesday.

“The woman, who was reportedly served two alcoholic drinks, is accused of yelling and cursing at the flight attendant after being told to stay seated,” according to the station.

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Once the plane landed and arrived at the gate, Huertas reportedly started acting up again by pushing other passengers out of the way and at one point dropping her pants and squatting down low.

Watch (*Graphic content):

Huertas also reportedly used her belly to bump a flight attendant and threatened to kill multiple passengers who wouldn’t let her pass.

“HUERTAS displayed her anus and genitalia [while naked]. (Notably, there were children nearby.) HUERTAS did not urinate, and then stood up and pulled her underwear and pants back up. HUERTAS then cursed at passengers,” the criminal complaint against her reads.

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Huertas’ arrest comes just a few weeks after a Detroit man was hit with federal charges for propositioning two flight attendants aboard a Spirit Airlines flight from Louisville, Kentucky, to Orlando, Florida.

“James Finnister, 47, grabbed one of the flight attendants and laid down on the floor of the plane after he was moved a third time due to his ‘disruptive, intimidating behaviors,'” the New York Post reported.

“The flight attendants were forced to stop service and pick Finnister off the floor,” the complaint against Finnister states.

Afterward, he told the police he’d consumed “multiple alcoholic shots to calm his nerves prior to the flight, which he stated was his first,” the complaint continues.

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At the time — this was in early January — Finnister was arrested on a count of interference with flight crew members, which reportedly carries up to 20 years in jail.

But hours after being released on bond, he told The Daily Beast that the allegations against him were “bogus” and that he’d been asleep throughout the majority of the flight.

“When I first walked in the plane, I made a joke—I said, ‘This one of those mile high flights?’” he recalled. “They laughed and sat me by the window, [because] it was my first time flying… I was talking to a father and son next to me. We took off, I seen the clouds, and I fell asleep for two hours.”

But federal authorities tell a different story.

“[A]pproximately an hour into the flight, James Warren Finnister asked the lead flight attendant if she wanted to join the ‘mile high club,’” the complaint against him notes. “Finnister was originally assigned to 18D, but never sat in that seat. At the time of this interaction with the lead flight attendant, Finnister was reassigned to 22A, which is a window seat.”

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The complaint also says that at one point Finnister “intentionally grabbed a female aircraft flight attendant when Spirit Airlines Flight 693 was in flight, pulled her into his seat, and asked her if she wanted to join the ‘mile high club,’ interfering with her ability to perform her duties.”

“In addition to that question, Finnister also asked the flight attendant multiple questions about the aircraft cockpit, which alarmed her, including questions related to entering the aircraft cockpit,” the complaint continues.

There’s also a discrepancy in how he met up with the feds. To hear the feds tell it, they met up with him at the gate after the plane landed. But according to Finnister, this too is false.

“I woke up to an FBI agent sitting next to me,” he claimed. “I’m trying to get up, and he says, ‘You need to sit down.’ I said, ‘What’s up? What did I do?’”

Vivek Saxena
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