NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Virginia Beach man was the focus of suspicion of human trafficking by Southwest Airlines and Norfolk International Airport police as he returned home early last week.
John Kerrigan was flying with his daughter, 15, and her 16-year-old friend aboard Southwest Flight 4345 from Denver, the final leg of their Oct. 21 trip back from Las Vegas.
The flight lasted about three-and-a-half hours, and when Kerrigan would get up to go to the restroom, the flight attendant was asking the girls some peculiar questions.
“She keeps asking if we’re all right and if we know you,” Kerrigan said his daughter had told him. “And I said it seemed strange.”
Strange turned into disturbing and aggravating once they landed in Norfolk. An airport spokesman confirmed Wednesday that Southwest called airport police during the flight with suspicion of human trafficking, and Kerrigan was their person of interest.
The plane arrived at the gate, but the passengers were told to remain seated, and then three airport officers got on and walked back to the rear row to Kerrigan and the girls.