Flight attendant charged in fake bomb threat signs plea deal

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department in Bismarck, N.D., shows Justin Cox-Sever, of Tempe, Ariz. Cox-Sever, a flight attendant accused of fabricating bomb threats on two U.S. flights in 2015, signed a plea deal Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, with prosecutors to avoid trial but still could spend decades in prison. It still needs approval of a federal judge. (Burleigh County Sheriff's Department via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

BISMARCK, N.D. – A flight attendant accused of making bogus bomb threats on two Skywest flights in 2015 has signed a plea deal to avoid trial, but that could send him to prison for decades.

Twenty-three-year-old Justin Cox-Sever, of Tempe, Arizona, is accused of calling in fake bomb threats on a flight from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Chicago, and on a flight from Minneapolis to Dickinson, North Dakota.

Both flights made emergency landings. No one was hurt.

The plea agreement calls for Cox-Sever to plead guilty to four of the five charges against him related to interfering with an aircraft. Prosecutors will drop a fifth count, reducing the potential maximum prison sentence from 70 years to 50 years.

The plea deal was filed Saturday. It still needs the approval of a federal judge.