Pastor allegedly attacked wife because she was upgraded to a first class seat

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An elderly evangelical pastor is facing charges in federal court for allegedly attacking his wife on an airplane because she was upgraded to first class and he was not.

The ugly physical attack occurred on July 2 aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 275 from Seattle to Anchorage after Roger Allan Holmberg Sr., 75, verbally abused his wife and gave her the middle finger in front of a cabin full of horrified travelers, according to a criminal complaint filed The Independent.

The couple had traveled to Alaska from their home in Virginia to attend a meeting “related to their office,” according to the lawsuit, filed July 3. It says the Holmbergs knew each other for about 20 years before marrying a year and a half ago, after the death of Holmberg’s former wife.

Holmberg, who has no attorney listed in court records and is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in Anchorage on Monday morning, remains detained and could not be reached for comment. A phone number listed for him in public records was unavailable Sunday evening. Holmberg’s 59-year-old wife, whose name The Independent is aware of this but is keeping it secret for privacy reasons and has not responded to voicemails and SMS messages requesting comment.

A passenger sitting next to Holmberg’s wife in first class (and not named in the filing) said things started going wrong shortly into the three-and-a-half-hour flight, according to the complaint.

In the first of three separate incidents, Holmberg, who was flying economy class, confronted his wife at her seat, the complaint says.

“How the hell did you get the upgrade?” Holmberg asked her, the complaint says.

“I’m a Gold Point member,” Holmberg’s wife replied. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

During the second contact, Holmberg walked up to his wife, gave her his phone, told her to read what was on the screen and “then gave her the middle finger,” the complaint states.

When Holmberg returned for a third confrontation, he “pushed himself in front of” his wife’s seatmate and “attempted to swing his arm toward the victim,” the lawsuit says. The seatmate “leaned forward to block the attempted strike, but (Holmberg) appeared to strike the victim’s head with his hand anyway,” the lawsuit continues. Holmberg’s wife later said he had abused her in the past and suffered a broken finger in one confrontation.

An off-duty police officer sitting one row in front of Holmberg’s wife noticed “a disturbance” between her and Holmberg and heard Holmberg’s wife tell him, “You can’t do that,” the complaint states.

The officer soon realized that Holmberg had struck his wife in the head, so he made his way to the first-class restroom, the complaint states. When Holmberg emerged from the restroom, the officer told him “if there were any further incidents, we would place him in handcuffs.” Holmberg “ceased his disturbances at that point,” the complaint states.

An FBI special agent and an Anchorage Airport Police officer met the plane when it landed at 6:41 p.m., the complaint said.

Holmberg’s wife, who had no visible bruising or bleeding, told authorities her husband had “been abusive before” and said Holmberg broke her finger last September, the complaint states. She said Holmberg “hit her on the head with the back of his knuckles” on board the plane, adding that Holmberg “knew she had epilepsy and that touching her head could trigger a seizure,” the complaint states.

The complaint states that Holmberg’s wife, whose finger remained bandaged, “had considered reporting the abuse in the past but never did. However, after this incident, she wanted to report it.”

When questioned by airport police and the FBI, Holmberg said he and his wife had seen a marriage counselor to mend the cracks in their relationship, but according to the prosecution, Holmberg blamed her alone for the problems.

“(Holmberg) stated that (his wife) was often disrespectful to him and had anger issues,” the lawsuit states. “(She) had grabbed (Holmberg) by the leg in the past while driving, breaking his finger. (Holmberg) also stated that (his wife) had grabbed his genitals with such force that (he) was in pain.”

Holmberg claimed he was “upset” about his wife’s upgrade to first class “because he wanted his wife to travel with him and sit next to him,” the lawsuit says. It says Holmberg downplayed the severity of the strike, telling investigators he merely “patted his wife on the head as he passed by to get her attention.”

“Although he was upset, he stated that he was not a violent person and had no intention of hurting his wife,” the complaint states.

Holmberg was arrested on a charge of simple assault under the United States special maritime and territorial jurisdiction and taken to the Anchorage Correctional Center to await arraignment, scheduled for Monday at 10:30 a.m. local time.

If convicted, Holmberg faces up to one year in prison. An Alaska Airlines spokesman confirmed that Holmberg “has been banned from our flights.”