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Former flight attendant pleads guilty to starting fire aboard airplane that landed in Fargo

A former flight attendant has pleaded guilty to starting a fire aboard an airplane and forcing an emergency landing in Fargo.

FARGO, N.D. — A former flight attendant has pleaded guilty to starting a fire aboard an airplane and forcing an emergency landing in Fargo.

Eder (EHD’-ur) Rojas (ROH’-haws), formerly of Woodbury, Minn., is charged with starting a fire aboard an aircraft and failure to appear. Authorities say the then-22-year-old Rojas started a fire in the bathroom of a 2008 Compass Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, because he was unhappy he had to work the route.

Monday’s plea agreement calls for the government to drop the failure to appear charge. Rojas walked away from a Fargo halfway house in 2008 and was a fugitive for nearly three years. He was arrested in Mexico in March.

Rojas faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Dec. 16.