A Florida man who admitted to attacking an American Airlines gate agent at DFW Airport in October 2024 has been sentenced to four months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham announced the sentence, noting that U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor also ordered 53-year-old Keith Charles Owens to pay nearly $6,000 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas
Surveillance footage revealed that on Oct. 5, 2024, at Gate A36 at DFW Airport, Owens repeatedly punched the American Airlines gate agent in the head, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release Friday.
According to Meacham:
- Owens was late and at the wrong gate — A36 instead of A35 — when the gate agent informed him of the correct gate, prompting Owens to curse and walk away.
- Owens attempted to board at Gate A35 without scanning his boarding pass after the gate agent had radioed Gate A35 to inform airline personnel that Owens appeared intoxicated.
- Owens was removed from the jet bridge by airline personnel.
- Owens returned to Gate A36, where he yelled at the gate agent, grabbed him by the shoulders, and punched him repeatedly in the face and neck.
- The gate agent sustained minor injuries before airport personnel restrained Owens.
- The flight was subsequently delayed.
Owens was charged in November 2024 and pleaded guilty in January 2025 to interference with security screening personnel, according to Meacham.
The FBI’s Dallas Field Division investigated with assistance from the DFW Airport Department of Public Safety.
