Former Broward resident gets max sentence for assaulting girl on flight

A former Broward County resident was sentenced this week to five years in federal prison for assaulting a 13-year-old girl on a red-eye Delta flight from Los Angeles to Orlando last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Florida announced Wednesday.

Brian Patrick Durning, 52, of Altadena, Calif., previously lived in Broward County; his most recent South Florida address was in Pompano Beach in 2016. Durning has no criminal record in Broward County, according to court records.

Durning sat next to the girl on Flight 2954, which took off from Los Angeles shortly after 11:30 p.m. on June 23, 2022, and arrived at Orlando International Airport about 7:30 a.m. on June 24, 2022, according to his probable cause affidavit.

The teen was sitting two rows away from her family members, federal prosecutors said in a news release. The girl’s mother later told a U.S. Marshals agent that she couldn’t sit with her daughter and her other minor child “due to seating reservation issues,” the probable cause affidavit said.

Delta’s family seating policy posted on their website says the airline “strives to seat family members together upon request” and to contact reservations personnel “to review available seating options” if families are unable to get seats together. Airline spokespersons did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

The victim was in the row’s middle seat, with Durning to her left and a woman in the window seat to her right, the probable cause affidavit said. While in flight, Durning ordered an alcoholic drink and coughed and sneezed on her, the affidavit said.

The girl testified at his trial in Orlando this June that Durning started “acting ‘weird’” when the lights dimmed, according to a sentencing memorandum. The victim said Durning rubbed his leg against her, touched her hair and neck, and after she tried to get him to stop, he touched her chest, the sentencing memo said.

“Throughout this unwanted contact, the defendant continuously looked around to ensure the other passengers were asleep,” the memo said. “When a passenger would wake up, the defendant (would) stop groping the child.”

Durning called the girl “honey boo,” said he would take her to Texas and that she was “never going to see (her) family again,” according to the girl’s testimony at trial, the memo said. He then touched her inner leg and assaulted her.

The woman seated in the row with Durning and the girl had been sleeping on the flight and woke up to see Durning quickly move his hand away from the girl’s leg, the probable cause affidavit said.

“Did he touch you?” she asked. The girl, then shaking and crying, replied that he had, the affidavit said. The woman then switched seats with the girl to sit in between her and Durning and called for a flight attendant and the girl’s mother.

The woman told Durning not to talk to the girl “because (he was) scaring her,” the affidavit said, and he then attempted to touch the woman’s chest. When the girl’s mother came to the row to confront Durning, she noticed his pants were unzipped. A flight attendant shortly afterward put Durning in another seat away from the girl.

He was arrested when the flight landed, the sentencing memo said. The jury returned their verdict June 22, finding him guilty of assault of a minor causing substantial bodily injury and simple assault on two other charges, a lesser offense.

Prosecutors asked the court in their memo to sentence Durning to the maximum of five years in prison, citing the detrimental affect his actions had on the girl and her whole family. The girl’s mother testified at trial that her daughter’s grades had dropped after the assault and she no longer wanted to hang out with friends.

“A year after the assault, the victim continues to experience significant mental and emotional trauma and sees a therapist to address these injuries,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.

When he is released from prison, Durning will be on supervised release for three years, prosecutors said.