Florida Man Accused of Disrupting Southwest Flight is Released

Feb. 2--NORFOLK -- A Florida man is out on bond after his arrest this week on charges of disrupting a Southwest Airlines flight from Jacksonville, Fla.

Roy Youngblood Jr. was charged Wednesday with interfering with a flight crew. He is accused of harassing and "possibly sexually assaulting" a passenger on a Tuesday night flight to Norfolk, according to a complaint filed in federal court by a U.S. air marshal.

Youngblood was aboard Southwest flight 591 from Jacksonville to Norfolk when another passenger complained to a flight attendant about his behavior.

When the flight attendant approached Youngblood, he "grabbed and assaulted her upon asking him to sit down," the complaint says.

Air marshal Neil T. Guay, who is assigned to the local Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Norfolk Airport Authority police met the plane when it landed around 8:30 p.m. The U.S. air marshal's report didn't indicate why Youngblood was not arrested until the following day.

A U.S. District Court magistrate on Wednesday afternoon allowed Youngblood to go free on $7,500 bond pending a hearing on Feb. 15. The magistrate also ordered Youngblood to surrender his passport and forb ade him to fly Southwest.

A man who answered Youngblood's phone in Jacksonville hung up on a reporter Thursday.

A Southwest spokesman said no physical injuries occurred and that Youngblood eventually complied with the flight attendant's request.

Spokesman Chris Mainz in Dallas said "it is unusual to have a situation escalate to have law enforcement involved."

-- Reach Tim McGlone at (757) 446-2343 or .

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