Howard, 37, pleaded guilty in May to one count
of willfully damaging, destroying or disabling
an air navigation facility, and one count of
using fire to commit a federal felony. In
addition to the 150-month prison term, U.S.
District Judge Gary Feinerman ordered Howard to
pay $4,502,361 in restitution to the Federal
Aviation Administration.
“Brian Howard attacked a critical piece of
infrastructure in our nation’s airspace, causing
one of the most severe disruptions to air travel
in recent memory,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Andrew Polovin. “He committed a violent crime
that put thousands of lives at risk, and his
crime warranted the sentence he received.”
At the time of the incident, Howard worked as an
engineer for Harris Corp., a telecommunications
contractor for the Federal Aviation
Administration. This position enabled Howard to
gain access to an area of the Control Center’s
basement that housed key components of the Control Center’s
telecommunication infrastructure.
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