OMAHA — A man who was flying from Omaha to Detroit who disrupted the flight, causing the plane to divert to Cedar Rapids and make an emergency landing, was sentenced today to more than a year in federal prison.
Mario Nikprelaj, age 24, from Shelby Township, Michigan, received the prison term after a September 23, 2025, guilty plea to one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.
Information at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that, on July 17, 2025, Nikprelaj boarded a plane in Omaha, Nebraska, bound for Detroit, Michigan. Even before the plane left the gate, Nikprelaj began making disruptive and rude statements to passengers and flight crew. Nikprelaj refused to put his seatbelt on, but a flight attendant eventually convinced him to do so and the plane took off…