AFFIDAVIT OF DANIEL CHOLDIN
I, Daniel Choldin, being duly sworn, do depose and state
that:
1. I am a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (AFBI@) and have been so employed for nearly four
years. Prior to that, I was a special agent for four years with
the Department of State=s Department of Diplomatic Security. As
an FBI special agent, I am currently assigned to the Joint
Terrorism Task Force (AJTTF@) within the Boston Field Division of
the FBI.
2. I am aware that Title 49, United States Code, Section
46504, makes it a crime for anyone on an aircraft in the special
jurisdiction of the United States, to assault or intimidate a
flight crew member or flight attendant of the aircraft, thereby
interfering with the performance or duties of the member or
attendant or lessening his or her ability to perform those
duties. I am further aware that the special aircraft
jurisdiction of the United States, as defined by Title 49 United
States Code, Section 46501(2), applies to all civil aircraft of
the United States in flight. I am aware that it also applies to
any aircraft in flight outside the United States that has its
next scheduled destination in the United States, if the aircraft
lands in the United States.
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3. I submit this affidavit in support of a criminal
complaint against CATHERINE CARSE MAYO (AMAYO@), whose date of
birth is July 24, 1947, charging her with interference with
flight crew members and flight attendants. The facts set forth
herein are based both on my own personal knowledge of the events
in question and on information related to me by other FBI special
agents, and other federal and state law enforcement personnel.
4. As a consequence of the recent arrest of a number of
suspected terrorists in London, England and Pakistan, who had
allegedly conspired to detonate liquid explosives on flights from
Heathrow Airport in London to the United States by using liquids
that were brought on board, extraordinary security measures have
been implemented at British and United States airports. Given
the threat, these measures include the banning of all liquids, in
addition to the normally prohibited items. Measures are
especially intense with respect to flights bound for the United
States.
5. At 8:29 A.M. (London time) on August 16, 2006, United
Airlines flight number 923 (AFlight 923"), a 767-300 aircraft,
with 182 passengers and 12 crew members on board, departed
Heathrow Airport in London. Its scheduled destination was Dulles
Airport in Washington D.C. MAYO, an American citizen traveling
with a United States passport, was one of the passengers.
Entries in MAYO=S passport indicate that on August 15, 2006, the
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day before, she exited Pakistan and entered the United Kingdom.
On Flight 923, MAYO was ticketed for seat 15A, which was located
at the front of the coach section of the aircraft.
6. While Flight 923 was en route to Washington D.C., the
FBI was notified of an apparent disturbance by a female passenger
and of the decision to divert the aircraft to Logan Airport in
Boston, Massachusetts.
7. Flight 923 landed in Boston at about 10:04 A.M. (Boston
time) on August 16, 2006. FBI special agents and other federal
agents with the JTTF, as well as Massachusetts State Police
troopers, were present when the aircraft landed. All of the
flight crew members and a number of the passengers were
subsequently interviewed regarding what had transpired on the
aircraft necessitating its diversion. Collectively, they related
the following:
a. About an hour and a half after take-off from
Heathrow Airport, following the first meal service, a flight
attendant in the coach section of the aircraft (AFA-1") had an
encounter with MAYO when the latter was seen by FA-1 standing in
the wrong cabin area pushing against the aircraft bulkhead. FA-1
directed MAYO to return to her seat. Instead of complying, MAYO
said that she wanted speak to an Air Marshall. She also made a
statement to the affect, AI know you want my bag@ or AI know you
want to see what=s in my bag.@
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b. At this point, FA-1 called the flight deck to have
the seat belt sign illuminated, again directed MAYO to return to
her seat, and then went forward to seek assistance from the
Purser and the First Officer.
c. FA-1, the Purser, and the First Officer then went
to speak to MAYO. MAYO again brought up Air Marshals. At some
point during this time frame, because of MAYO=S behavior, the
decision was made by the flight crew to move the passenger
adjacent to MAYO to another seat.
d. After FA-1, the First Officer, and the Purser
withdrew to the nearby business-class galley, MAYO handed the
First Officer the first of what was to become a series of notes
that she gave to flight crew members over the next several hours
(all were addressed to the captain of Flight 923). In the note,
she asked whether the adjacent passenger had been moved because
of her. When the First Officer orally replied in the negative,
MAYO asked him to write that on the note. He did so, returned
the note to MAYO, and she put it in her handbag. The First
Officer then left.
e. About two hours and twenty minutes into the flight,
MAYO requested an unopened can of Pepsi. After it was provided
to her, she went to one of the two lavatories located on her side
of the fuselage in the aft of the plane (there were two other
lavatories located on the other side of the fuselage, separated
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by the coach section galley). Afterward, she told a flight
attendant something to the effect, AI left the Pepsi can in the
bathroom B there is something in it.@ The flight crew then found
the can of Pepsi discarded in the lavatory trash bin. They noted
that it had been opened. When MAYO was asked why she had done
that, she had no explanation.
f. Sometime thereafter, MAYO inquired of FA-1, AIs
this a training flight for United Flight 93?@ FA-1 did not know
whether MAYO intended to ask about Flight 923 and merely
misspoke, or whether it was an intentional reference to one of
the aircraft that was involved in the terrorist attack on
September 11, 2001.
g. During this time frame, the Purser observed that
MAYO was biting her fingers, rubbing her feet, and in a constant
state of movement. She appeared very agitated. The Purser, who
ordinarily would have spent most of her time in the first-class
cabin, decided to maintain her observation of MAYO as much as
possible.
h. About three and a half hours into the flight, MAYO
was observed removing a bottle of water form an overhead
compartment. One or more passengers, who had apparently become
concerned themselves about MAYO=S behavior, reported that fact to
flight attendants. The bottle of water was not one that had been
supplied by flight attendants during the flight. FA-1
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confiscated the bottle from MAYO, because liquid was one of the
items prohibited by the extraordinary security measures that had
recently been implemented. MAYO put up an argument about
relinquishing the bottle.
i. Sometime thereafter, MAYO handed a note to a flight
attendant that made reference to her having been in another
country illegally. The note expressed concern on her part about
having to go through customs when the aircraft landed.
j. After another trip to one of the lavatories on her
side of the fuselage in the aft of the plane, MAYO accused the
flight attendants of going through her bags, asserting that she
could tell because her blankets had been moved. She stated that
in her bag was film with pictures of a Super 8 in Washington,
D.C. and her trip to Pakistan, which she identified as the
country she had been in illegally. She stated that the
photographs would be awful, and she indicated that they related
to the people that she had been with in the mountains of
Pakistan.
k. The Purser informed the Captain of the aircraft
that she believed that the aircraft should be landed as soon as
possible. In response, the Captain decided to go speak to MAYO.
He was accompanied by the Purser. In the ensuing conversation,
MAYO made a number of bizarre statements to the Captain. Among
them, she made reference to there being six steps to building
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some unspecified thing. The Captain and the Purser both thought
she was referring to a bomb. She also stated that she had been
in Pakistan, and she made reference to being with people
associated with two words. She stated that she could not say
what the two words were because the last time that she had said
the two words she had been kicked off of a flight in the United
Arab Emirates. The Captain and the Purser both believed that she
was referring to Al Qaeda.
l. At the conclusion of his conversation with MAYO,
the Captain returned to the flight deck area. He concluded from
his interaction with MAYO that the threat presented did not just
involve an unruly passenger, as he had originally believed, but
instead involved a potential threat to the aircraft.
m. About thirty-five minutes later, MAYO again used
one of the aft lavatories on her side of the plane. Afterward,
another passenger used the adjoining lavatory. That passenger
had drawn the Purser=s attention because he had displayed what
struck her as an inordinate interest in the Captain=s earlier
conversation with MAYO. Within a matter of minutes after that
passenger exited the lavatory, MAYO got up to use the lavatory
yet again. Before she could do so, the flight attendants locked
both of the aft lavatories on that side of the plane. They
informed MAYO that she could use one of the other lavatories just
on the other side of the galley. After a brief exchange with the
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flight attendants, MAYO lowered her pants and urinated on the
floor of the cabin just outside the locked lavatories.
n. The Purser immediately reported MAYO=S actions to
the Captain, who directed her to have MAYO restrained. The
Captain also made the decision to divert the flight from its
intended destination to Logan Airport.
o. In response to the Captain=s directive, the Purser
retrieved plastic flex cuffs and metal handcuffs, and she
solicited the assistance of a male passenger. When she got back
to the vicinity of the aft lavatories, where MAYO had remained,
another male passenger was there, his assistance having been
requested by another flight attendant. (Based on his own
observations of MAYO=S behavior during the flight, one of the two
male passengers had become concerned that she might be acting as
a diversion for a possible terrorist action; he had moved his
seat so as to be potentially more useful should something occur.)
The Purser informed MAYO that they were going to handcuff her.
MAYO tried to get away. One of the male passengers restrained
her and lowered her to the floor, at which point the Purser
applied the flex cuffs to her wrists. She was then seated on the
floor of the cabin on the other side of the galley, where she
remained for the duration of the flight.
8. Based on the foregoing, I believe that probable cause
exists to conclude that on August 16, 2006, CATHERINE CARSE MAYO,
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in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, by
intimidating crew members and flight attendants of United
Airlines Flight 923, did interfere with the performance of the
duties of said crew members and flight attendants and did lessen
their ability to perform those duties.
DANIEL CHOLDIN
Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation
