A 33-year-old Molokai man pleaded guilty Thursday to assaulting a flight attendant and interfering with an interisland flight before Chief United States District Judge J. Michael Seabright.

Steven Sloan, Jr. will be sentenced on Aug. 4.

On Sept. 23 at about 7:30 a.m., Hawaiian Airlines Flight No. 152 was in the air from Honolulu to Hilo when a flight attendant collecting trash was punched in the chest by Sloan in an unprovoked attack. The male attendant, who did not know Sloan, was shocked, according to court documents.

The attendant tried to move away and protect himself but an “agitated” Sloan hit him on back left side of his head. Sloan then sat back down “as if nothing had happened,” the affidavit read.

The attendant told the other flight attendants to abandon their normal flight duties and to monitor the doors of the aircraft in the event Sloan tried to open them. The captain of the plane was told of the assault and returned the flight to Honolulu, according to the release.

The flight carrying 80 passengers and five crew members diverted back to Honolulu, where deputy sheriffs boarded the plane and arrested him.

Sloan faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison for the charge of interference with flight crew members and attendants, a fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of three years. The maximum penalties for the assault charge are one-year imprisonment, a fine of $100,000, and a term of supervised release of one year, according to the release.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and State of Hawaii Department of Public Safety – Sheriff Division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren W.K. Ching.