Prosecutors said Thursday that a former captain of the California Highway Patrol was accused of sexually abusing a flight attendant during a trip from Florida to Los Angeles last month.
In the criminal complaint, prosecutors claim that 49-year-old Dennis Wally Woodbury drank a bottle of prosecco during the April 13 trip, smacked a male flight attendant’s butt and shouted, “I love you,” and displayed a pornographic image to another male flight attendant.
A criminal count of abusive sexual contact within the U.S.’s special marine and territorial jurisdiction has been brought against Woodbury, of Azusa. He may receive a maximum term of two years in federal prison if found guilty.
Annick Jordan, Woodbury’s lawyer, refused to comment on the case. Woodbury was not immediately available for comment as he is currently out on bond. The date that Woodbury left the CHP is unknown. According to a news statement from the U.S. attorney’s office, he had “been dismissed from state service.”
The criminal complaint claims that Woodbury was on Jet Blue’s business class flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Los Angeles International Airport at the time of the alleged abuse.
Woodbury allegedly showed a flight attendant a picture of a puppy with a blurry image of two guys having sex in the backdrop before the plane left the gate. “Oh my God,” the man said, and Woodbury laughed, adding, “I was wondering how long it would take you,” according to the criminal complaint filed by the prosecution.
Then Woodbury proposed that the two guys take a cruise together.
“When [the attendant] demonstrated how the plane’s oxygen masks worked, he saw Woodbury looking at him and made a hand pumping motion,” the complaint states.
Woodbury allegedly slapped the other flight attendant’s buttocks with his left hand while he was gathering dinner plates and shouted that he “loved him,” claims the complaint.
The complaint claims that later in the flight, Woodbury exposed his penis to the first flight attendant, who was positioned at the front of the aircraft, by pulling down his pants.
After being informed that he could only have a nonalcoholic beverage, Woodbury allegedly begged for more wine and exposed himself a second time, according to the prosecution.
For the remainder of the flight, Woodbury dozed back in his seat. According to the criminal complaint, he said to a flight attendant, “This is all your fault because you didn’t go to the bathroom with me,” as LAX police officers took him off the aircraft.
According to the court document, Woodbury later told police that he refused the flight attendant’s invitation to use the restroom.
