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Tag: criminal complaint

  • Carbondale man faces DUI, traffic charges and hitting boy on bike

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    A Carbondale man who was intoxicated faces charges after striking a juvenile with his truck and leaving the scene Thursday in the city, police said.

    Officers responded to Seventh Avenue and South Main Street in Carbondale at 5:58 p.m. for a report of a hit-and-run involving a white pickup truck driven by Louis Charles Curtis and a juvenile on a bicycle, according to a criminal complaint. They were also notified that the truck — headed past Weis Markets on Brooklyn Street — had two small American flags on the back, police said.

    A witness told officers she was standing outside Liberty Tax on South Main when she saw the child with a bike, standing just off the sidewalk, and then watched a white truck turn right from Seventh Avenue onto Main Street, hit and drive over the child, and continue to drive away without stopping, according to the criminal complaint.

    The witness informed officers the truck read “Chuck’s Home Improvement” on the side and had two U.S. flags on the back of the ladder rack, police said.

    Another witness — who was standing at the bus stop at the intersection — corroborated the report, leading officers to believe the vehicle belonged to Curtis, according to the criminal complaint.

    An officer later witnessed Curtis pull into the parking lot and then quickly flee upon noticing the patrol vehicle, police said.

    Police executed a traffic stop on the Dodge Ram along Hammond Avenue and took photos of the vehicle, officers said.

    At the time, the pickup didn’t have any signs on the side and the flags had been snapped off the back, police said. The flags were found in a seat in the truck and the magnetic signs were in the bed of the truck, according to the criminal complaint.

    Curtis failed several field sobriety tests during the traffic stop and, during an interview at police headquarters, continually denied knowing he had hit a child, officers said. He also refused a blood test.

    The boy — identified by police as Carter Bogart — was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital for evaluation by his father, James, according to the criminal complaint.

    Surveillance video from Dunkin Donuts showed Curtis’ truck traveling on Seventh Avenue toward South Main Street before turning right onto South Main, hitting the child and continuing to drive without stopping, officers said.

    When questioned about leaving the scene, Curtis said he had not been there and denied hitting the juvenile, police said. Then, when confronted about the surveillance video, he told officers “his buddy was using his truck,” according to the criminal complaint.

    Curtis later said he didn’t know he hit someone and thought he hit the curb, before stating he thought he hit a parked car, which is why he fled and took the evidence off his truck, police said.

    Police charged Curtis, 57, with accidents involving death or personal injury, DUI–incapable of safe driving, recklessly endangering another person, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, reckless driving, careless driving, duty to give information and render aid, and driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked–DUI related.

    A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2 at 10:45 a.m.

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  • ‘They’re next’: ABC10 shooting suspect faces new federal charges; ominous note found in car

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    Federal prosecutors have added new charges against the man accused of shooting into the lobby of ABC10 Sacramento and said a note was found in his car that used the phrase “they’re next” in referring to Trump administration officials.Anibal Hernandez Santana, a 64-year-old California lawyer and retired lobbyist, has now been charged with possession of a firearm within a school zone and discharge of a firearm within a school zone, in addition to interference with a radio communication station, according to an amended criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. (Video above: Suspect’s lawyer speaks out.)The complaint sheds new light on why investigators believe Hernandez Santana is responsible for Friday’s shooting at ABC10 and reveals that a note referencing members of the Trump administration was found in his car after his initial release on bail on Saturday. | RELATED | Read the amended criminal complaint hereAccording to the court documents, Sacramento police who executed the search warrant found a handwritten note that read, “For hiding Epstein & ignoring red flags. Do not support Patel, Bongino, & AG Pam Bondie. They’re next. – C.K. from above.”The court documents outline a timeline of the shooting and investigation that followed. Before opening fire on the ABC10 station Friday at 1:34 p.m., he allegedly fired a single round in the air two minutes earlier while standing on the sidewalk in front of 2555 3rd Street. The court documents describe the area as located adjacent to the rear parking lot and about 300 feet to the southwest corner of ABC10. That location was within a school zone, according to prosecutors. He then drove to the front of ABC10 at 400 Broadway and fired three shots into the building’s lobby, prosecutors said. The criminal complaint says that video surveillance showed the suspect wearing a “gray t-shirt, dark colored pants, gray and white shoes, and a dark colored satchel worn around his torso.”The complaint alleges that the shooting interfered with ABC10’s radio communications because employees sheltered in place and the shooting led to the cancellation of a planned news conference. A witness at the shooting scene showed officers a spent 9mm casing and another witness provided a description of the suspect’s vehicle. Crime scene investigators found a spent projectile from a doorway in the building’s lobby. After DMV records linked the suspect’s Nissan vehicle to a residence on Carlson Drive in River Park, Hernandez-Santana was taken into custody as he exited his apartment. (See neighbors speak out about that initial arrest in the video below.)Detectives who executed a search warrant in his apartment “located a dark colored satchel that appeared consistent with the satchel that was worn by the suspect as previously observed on video surveillance,” the court documents said. Inside the satchel, they found a Sub Compact 9mm handgun with the same caliber as the bullet and casing found at the shooting scene. The handgun was inside a holster with an empty magazine, according to the court documents. Hernandez Santana’s hands also tested presumptive positive for gunshot residue, according to the complaint. The court documents say detectives also found a whiteboard planner on Santana Hernandez’s refrigerator with a handwritten note under “Friday” that said, “Do the Next Scary Thing.” He was booked based on that information, according to the complaint. The court documents go on to say that after Hernandez-Santana was released on bail Saturday at 1:50 p.m., law enforcement executed a search warrant on his vehicle. That’s where they found the note that referenced FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said he believes “C.K. from above” in the note was a reference to the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Hernandez Santana was arrested later that evening.The first two federal charges related to firearms in a school zone face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The interference with a radio communications station charge carries a maximum of one year imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000. In addition to the federal charges, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said it will be filing charges related to discharging a firearm into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm, along with personal use of a firearm allegation.If convicted of those charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in state prison.Ho, the Sacramento County district attorney, said his office will be requesting no bail. He is due to appear on those charges Monday at 3 p.m., an hour after his federal court appearance. Defense attorney Mark Reichel confirmed to KCRA 3 that he is representing Hernandez Santana in both cases and said Sunday that his client was arrested by the FBI after he took a break from conferring with the attorney and going outside his apartment. KCRA 3 spoke to Reichel on Sunday, before the FBI released new details in the case and outlined the investigation. At the time, Reichel questioned the motives behind the federal arrest and what he described as a minor charge related to radio communications interference. He said he believed investigators were scrutinizing his client’s social media activity, which was critical of the Trump administration.”If you look at his social media, they’re going to say, ‘Boy, it sure shows that he’s liberal and left wing.’ So you think they’re going to overlook something like that? I don’t think so,” he said.KCRA 3 has reviewed what appears to be Hernandez Santana’s public social media account on X, which includes many posts critical of President Donald Trump and members of his administration, and some that referenced Kirk’s killing.In the past week, the account posted or replied to posts 18 times on political themes.According to Reichel, Hernandez Santana is an Army veteran who went on to become a lawyer and successful lobbyist and legislative advocate in Sacramento before retiring a year ago. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    Federal prosecutors have added new charges against the man accused of shooting into the lobby of ABC10 Sacramento and said a note was found in his car that used the phrase “they’re next” in referring to Trump administration officials.

    Anibal Hernandez Santana, a 64-year-old California lawyer and retired lobbyist, has now been charged with possession of a firearm within a school zone and discharge of a firearm within a school zone, in addition to interference with a radio communication station, according to an amended criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

    (Video above: Suspect’s lawyer speaks out.)

    The complaint sheds new light on why investigators believe Hernandez Santana is responsible for Friday’s shooting at ABC10 and reveals that a note referencing members of the Trump administration was found in his car after his initial release on bail on Saturday.

    | RELATED | Read the amended criminal complaint here

    According to the court documents, Sacramento police who executed the search warrant found a handwritten note that read, “For hiding Epstein & ignoring red flags. Do not support Patel, Bongino, & AG Pam Bondie. They’re next. – C.K. from above.”

    The court documents outline a timeline of the shooting and investigation that followed. Before opening fire on the ABC10 station Friday at 1:34 p.m., he allegedly fired a single round in the air two minutes earlier while standing on the sidewalk in front of 2555 3rd Street. The court documents describe the area as located adjacent to the rear parking lot and about 300 feet to the southwest corner of ABC10. That location was within a school zone, according to prosecutors.

    He then drove to the front of ABC10 at 400 Broadway and fired three shots into the building’s lobby, prosecutors said.

    The criminal complaint says that video surveillance showed the suspect wearing a “gray t-shirt, dark colored pants, gray and white shoes, and a dark colored satchel worn around his torso.”

    The complaint alleges that the shooting interfered with ABC10’s radio communications because employees sheltered in place and the shooting led to the cancellation of a planned news conference.

    A witness at the shooting scene showed officers a spent 9mm casing and another witness provided a description of the suspect’s vehicle. Crime scene investigators found a spent projectile from a doorway in the building’s lobby.

    After DMV records linked the suspect’s Nissan vehicle to a residence on Carlson Drive in River Park, Hernandez-Santana was taken into custody as he exited his apartment.

    (See neighbors speak out about that initial arrest in the video below.)

    Detectives who executed a search warrant in his apartment “located a dark colored satchel that appeared consistent with the satchel that was worn by the suspect as previously observed on video surveillance,” the court documents said.

    Inside the satchel, they found a Sub Compact 9mm handgun with the same caliber as the bullet and casing found at the shooting scene.

    The handgun was inside a holster with an empty magazine, according to the court documents.

    Hernandez Santana’s hands also tested presumptive positive for gunshot residue, according to the complaint.

    The court documents say detectives also found a whiteboard planner on Santana Hernandez’s refrigerator with a handwritten note under “Friday” that said, “Do the Next Scary Thing.”

    He was booked based on that information, according to the complaint.

    The court documents go on to say that after Hernandez-Santana was released on bail Saturday at 1:50 p.m., law enforcement executed a search warrant on his vehicle.

    That’s where they found the note that referenced FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

    Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said he believes “C.K. from above” in the note was a reference to the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Hernandez Santana was arrested later that evening.

    The first two federal charges related to firearms in a school zone face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The interference with a radio communications station charge carries a maximum of one year imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.

    In addition to the federal charges, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said it will be filing charges related to discharging a firearm into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm, along with personal use of a firearm allegation.

    If convicted of those charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in state prison.

    Ho, the Sacramento County district attorney, said his office will be requesting no bail.

    He is due to appear on those charges Monday at 3 p.m., an hour after his federal court appearance.

    Defense attorney Mark Reichel confirmed to KCRA 3 that he is representing Hernandez Santana in both cases and said Sunday that his client was arrested by the FBI after he took a break from conferring with the attorney and going outside his apartment.

    KCRA 3 spoke to Reichel on Sunday, before the FBI released new details in the case and outlined the investigation. At the time, Reichel questioned the motives behind the federal arrest and what he described as a minor charge related to radio communications interference.

    He said he believed investigators were scrutinizing his client’s social media activity, which was critical of the Trump administration.

    “If you look at his social media, they’re going to say, ‘Boy, it sure shows that he’s liberal and left wing.’ So you think they’re going to overlook something like that? I don’t think so,” he said.

    KCRA 3 has reviewed what appears to be Hernandez Santana’s public social media account on X, which includes many posts critical of President Donald Trump and members of his administration, and some that referenced Kirk’s killing.

    In the past week, the account posted or replied to posts 18 times on political themes.

    According to Reichel, Hernandez Santana is an Army veteran who went on to become a lawyer and successful lobbyist and legislative advocate in Sacramento before retiring a year ago.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • San Bernardino man arrested after he protested immigration officer shooting at his truck

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    Francisco Longoria, a San Bernardino man who was driving his truck when a masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer shot at it, has been arrested and charged by federal authorities. They allege he assaulted immigration officers during the incident.

    In a statement, Longoria’s attorneys said Homeland Security Investigations agents arrived at the Longoria household at 4:18 a.m. Thursday, with an armored personnel carrier, a type of military vehicle, and deployed more than a dozen “fully armed and armored” agents to swarm the home, breaking the locks on his gate. An agent called out to Longoria to come out, using a bullhorn, as agents stood at each door and pointed their rifles at the door and at the occupants inside, the attorneys said.

    “These are the type of tactics reserved for dangerous criminals such as violent gang members, drug lords, and terrorists,” the attorneys said. “It was clearly intended to intimidate and punish Mr. Longoria and his family for daring to speak out about their attempted murder by ICE and CBP agents on August 16th.”

    On that day, federal immigration officers stopped Longoria in San Bernardino. During the encounter, Longoria, who was in his truck with his 18-year-old son and 23-year-old son-in-law, feared for his safety and drove off after masked officers shattered his car window, his attorneys said.

    Department of Homeland Security officials have said officers were injured during the encounter when Longoria tried to “run them down.” Longoria’s attorneys dispute their client injured the officers or attempted to hit them, and earlier this week they called for an investigation of the shooting.

    On Friday morning, the U.S. attorney’s office confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Longoria the day before. Word of his arrest was earlier reported by the San Bernardino Sun.

    Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said Longoria made an initial appearance before a U.S. District Court judge in Riverside, and is set to be arraigned on Sept. 30. The federal magistrate judge ordered him released on a $5,000 bond.

    Longoria was being held at the San Bernardino County jail, in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, as of Thursday afternoon, McEvoy said in an email.

    “Since Longoria is an illegal alien, ICE has a detainer on him,” he said. Longoria’s attorneys said their client was transferred into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as of Friday.

    An unnamed Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed federal agents arrested Longoria at his home.

    “CBP and ICE remain committed to enforcing the law, protecting officers, and keeping dangerous criminals off America’s streets — even as local officials in California undermine those efforts,” the official said.

    According to a criminal complaint submitted by a Homeland Security Investigations agent, whose name is redacted, Longoria is facing a charge of assault on a federal officer with a deadly/dangerous weapon.

    In the complaint, the agent, who interviewed the officers who stopped Longoria, said the officers had stopped Longoria’s GMC pickup truck to conduct “an immigration check.” Two of them were ICE officers and the other two were CBP officers.

    The complaint states that the officers were identifiable by their visible clothing marked with “police.”

    After they stopped Longoria’s truck, the complaint states, he refused to comply with the demands to turn off his vehicle and roll down the window. One of the CBP officers, identified as J.C., decided to break the window after Longoria refused the commands, and was allegedly struck by the driver’s door on his left elbow and left calf. The passenger side window was also shattered by agents during the encounter.

    Another CBP officer was allegedly struck by the front bumper/fender of the truck on his right leg. “The Truck kept pushing Officer S.T., and Officer S.T. shot at the Truck, afraid for his life,” according to the complaint.

    Longoria’s attorneys had previously released surveillance video of the incident, which appears to dispute a key claim by Homeland Security — that Longoria drove his truck toward officers and injured them.

    In the surveillance video, the moment Longoria drives away, officers on both sides of the truck remain in sight of the video, and they then pile into their vehicles and pursue Longoria’s truck down a side street.

    After Longoria drove off, the family called 911. While San Bernardino police were questioning Longoria, the immigration officers arrived, and family members identified the one they believed had shot at the truck.

    At the initial court appearance, the judge questioned the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, Cory Burleson, about the government’s claim that it was conducting an “immigration check,” a term he couldn’t clarify when asked by the court, according to Longoria’s attorneys. Burleson also claimed Longoria was stopped due to a traffic violation, but couldn’t identify the violation, his attorneys said. When the judge asked Burleson to identify the alleged injuries of the officers, Burleson said he was “not aware of any injuries,” Longoria’s attorneys said.

    Longoria’s attorneys said their client was granted bond, but because of the ICE hold, has since been transferred into ICE custody, which they believe is the “true purpose of this false and baseless charge.”

    “No reasonable prosecutor could believe that a conviction would be secured against Mr. Longoria for the August 16th stop, when every video supports Mr. Longoria’s version of events and directly contradicts DHS’ story,” his attorneys said. “Yet [the Department of Justice] will not drop the charges; it has been their practice during this Administration to pursue charges based on unsubstantiated and false affidavits in order to arrest individuals and then turn them over to ICE.”

    His attorneys said they intend to continue advocating for Longoria, his son and son-in-law.

    “We are in contact with local and State authorities and are encouraging a state investigation and criminal charges against the ICE/CBP agents,” the attorneys said.

    This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

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    Melissa Gomez

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  • Cal Fire captain faces five felony counts, including murder, in deaths of girlfriend and her son

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    A Cal Fire captain is facing five felony counts in connection with the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her young son, according to a criminal complaint filed in El Dorado County Superior Court on Monday.Those charges against Darin McFarlin, 47, include two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 29-year-old Marissa N. Divodi-Lessa, of Shingle Springs, and her son Josiah Divodi-Lessa. Read the complaint here.The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office has said that deputies responded to a report of a shooting at McFarlin’s home Thursday around 9 p.m. Marissa Divodi-Lessa was pronounced dead at the scene, while Josiah Divodi-Lessa died at the hospital. Another child was found safe in the home. McFarlin was detained in Mono County around midnight. The murder charges against him include special circumstances for multiple murders. They also allege the mother and her son were witnesses to a crime and killed for that reason. The court documents say the penalty for a conviction on those murder charges with the special circumstances would be death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to the complaint, McFarlin was also charged with the attempted murder of the second child and for injuring his girlfriend before her death. The complaint alleges that Mcfarlin injured his girlfriend in the bedroom “before she left the room and used her cellphone and before he obtained the gun and went out to the dining room to kill her.”The complaint also lists a felony child abuse charge in connection with the second child victim. McFarlin made an initial court appearance on Monday and pleaded not guilty on all counts. The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office said the next key court hearings will include a status update on Sept. 29 and a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16.A Cal Fire representative confirmed to KCRA 3 that McFarlin is a fire captain in the Amador El Dorado unitIf you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text ‘START’ to 88788.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. —

    A Cal Fire captain is facing five felony counts in connection with the shooting deaths of his girlfriend and her young son, according to a criminal complaint filed in El Dorado County Superior Court on Monday.

    Those charges against Darin McFarlin, 47, include two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 29-year-old Marissa N. Divodi-Lessa, of Shingle Springs, and her son Josiah Divodi-Lessa.

    (Earlier coverage in the video above.)

    The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office has said that deputies responded to a report of a shooting at McFarlin’s home Thursday around 9 p.m. Marissa Divodi-Lessa was pronounced dead at the scene, while Josiah Divodi-Lessa died at the hospital. Another child was found safe in the home.

    McFarlin was detained in Mono County around midnight.

    The murder charges against him include special circumstances for multiple murders. They also allege the mother and her son were witnesses to a crime and killed for that reason.

    The court documents say the penalty for a conviction on those murder charges with the special circumstances would be death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    According to the complaint, McFarlin was also charged with the attempted murder of the second child and for injuring his girlfriend before her death.

    The complaint alleges that Mcfarlin injured his girlfriend in the bedroom “before she left the room and used her cellphone and before he obtained the gun and went out to the dining room to kill her.”

    The complaint also lists a felony child abuse charge in connection with the second child victim.

    McFarlin made an initial court appearance on Monday and pleaded not guilty on all counts.

    The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office said the next key court hearings will include a status update on Sept. 29 and a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16.

    A Cal Fire representative confirmed to KCRA 3 that McFarlin is a fire captain in the Amador El Dorado unit

    If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text ‘START’ to 88788.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Ex-MLB player charged in father-in-law’s killing also committed child abuse, prosecutors say

    Ex-MLB player charged in father-in-law’s killing also committed child abuse, prosecutors say

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    A retired Major League Baseball player accused of killing his father-in-law and attempting to kill his mother-in-law also was charged with child abuse of two infants, according to court documents.

    Danny Serafini, 49, was arraigned this week on a murder charge in the killing of Robert Spohr, his wife’s father, and attempted murder in the shooting of Wendy Wood, his wife’s mother. In a criminal complaint, prosecutors also alleged that Serafini committed “cruelty to child by abuse, neglect, or endangering health,” citing his treatment of a 3-year-old and an 8-month-old.

    The complaint did not say whether the children were Serafini’s and did not spell out the specific actions related to the alleged abuse.

    Serafini was arrested last week — along with a woman, Samantha Scott, 33 — in connection with the June 5, 2021, shootings of Spohr and Wood. Deputies at the time responded to a 911 call from a residence in Homewood, a neighborhood in North Lake Tahoe. They found Spohr dead from a single gunshot wound. Wood had also been shot but was still alive.

    Wood died by suicide a year after the attack.

    Serafini and Scott were both arrested in Nevada, and Serafini was quickly extradited to California.

    The criminal complaint said that Serafini or an accomplice used a .22-caliber gun to carry out the shootings, which were committed during the course of a burglary.

    Serafini pleaded not guilty to all charges and was ordered held without bail. He’s due back in court on Nov. 27.

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    Noah Goldberg

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  • Off-duty pilot may have been on psychedelic mushrooms when he tried to shut off plane engines, official says

    Off-duty pilot may have been on psychedelic mushrooms when he tried to shut off plane engines, official says

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    The FBI is investigating whether an off-duty pilot who tried to shut down the engines of an in-flight jetliner on Sunday was on psychedelic mushrooms, an official told The Times.

    Federal prosecutors in Oregon have charged Joseph Emerson, 44, with interference with flight crew members and attendants. Emerson was arrested after pilots and crew members detained him Sunday following an outburst in the cockpit during a Horizon Airlines flight from Seattle that was headed to San Francisco. Horizon Airlines is a regional carrier owned by the parent company that owns Alaska Airlines.

    In a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, an FBI agent revealed that Emerson told investigators about his use of psychedelic mushrooms and said “it was his first time taking mushrooms.”

    But FBI officials declined to confirm that Emerson had taken mushrooms at the time of the midair incident.

    “It is vague in [the complaint], but that is part of what [the] FBI is investigating,” said Joy Jiras, an FBI Portland field office spokesperson. “The FBI is investigating the timeline of his use of magic mushrooms. We are trying to figure out whether he was on them that day or whether they were in his system or not.”

    Emerson had been flying in the “jump seat,” a foldout seat usually placed behind the captain’s seat, according to experts.

    “I am not OK,” Emerson said during the flight, after he had been casually engaging the two pilots in conversation, a federal agent said in the complaint.

    Both pilots then saw Emerson grab onto the red fire handles, which are used to extinguish engine fires and shut down all fuel to the engines, potentially turning the plane into a glider, the pilots told federal investigators.

    One pilot struggled with Emerson for about 25 or 30 seconds before the off-duty pilot “quickly settled down,” according to the complaint.

    The other pilot saw Emerson throw his headset across the cockpit before saying he was not OK.

    The pilots said the interaction with Emerson lasted about 90 seconds before they were able to remove him and secure the cockpit, the complaint said.

    Flight attendants then saw Emerson “peacefully walking to the back of the aircraft,” the complaint said. They had received a call from the pilots saying that Emerson was “losing it,” and he told one attendant that he “just got kicked out of the flight deck,” according to investigators.

    “You need to cuff me right now, or it’s going to be bad,” he told the attendant.

    He was cuffed and seated in the back of the plane, according to the complaint, where he tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit before he was stopped by a crew member.

    Another crew member said that Emerson made statements about how “he tried to kill everybody,” the complaint said.

    “The flight attendant noticed Emerson take out his cellular phone and appeared to be texting on the phone. Emerson was heard saying he had just put 84 peoples’ lives at risk tonight including his own,” FBI Agent Tapara Simmons wrote in the complaint.

    After the plane made an emergency landing in Portland, Ore., Emerson was detained. He told police he had become depressed six months ago, according to the complaint.

    He talked with the officer about “the use of psychedelic mushrooms” and said “it was his first time taking mushrooms.”

    “I’m admitting to what I did. I’m not fighting any charges you want to bring against me, guys,” he told police, according to the complaint.

    Emerson was booked by police in Multnomah County on suspicion of 83 counts of attempted murder. It was not clear whether the state case would continue in light of federal charges.

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    Noah Goldberg

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