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‘I HAVE TO REINVENT MYSELF’ Blackberry Township man speaks out after airplane ordeal By BRENDA SCHORY bschory@shawmedia.com BLACKBERRY TOWNSHIP – What would become the worst day of Kevin Matthews’ life began at 4 a.m. March 23, when he left home in a snowstorm from the Mill Creek subdivision near Geneva to catch a flight from Chicago to Boise, Idaho, for business. He called his wife, Janet, at about 6 a.m. to tell her his 9 a.m. flight was canceled, but the airline would put him on a 2 p.m. flight. “I said, ‘Kevin, just come home. The weather is horrible,’ ” she said. Later, Matthews texted his wife that he was getting on a 5 p.m. flight to San Diego with a layover in Salt Lake City, where he would catch a plane to Idaho. Matthews sat in an aisle seat in the fourth row, next to a 3-year-old Bulgarian boy. The boy’s family was split up on the plane, with his father and brother in one part and his mother seated in the middle of the three seats across the aisle
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from Matthews. Another man sat by the window in Matthews’ row, on the other side of the 3-year-old boy. “I offered [the mother] my seat,” Matthews said. “She said no, that I seemed like a nice guy. … She probably thanked me eight or nine times for watching her kid.” It was a long flight, and the little boy had no toys, so Matthews, 48, a father of three sons, entertained the lad with his iPad and asked the flight attendant for more pretzels for him. Matthews said his family has flown to Hawaii for vacation for 13 years, and he has had experience entertaining young children on long flights. As the plane approached Salt Lake City, a woman seated by the window in back of Matthews’ row suddenly rapped sharply on the back of his seat and called out, “Don’t touch that boy!” He was startled and confused by the accusation.
See ORDEAL, page 6
Sandy Bressner – sbressner@shawmedia.com
Blackberry Township resident Kevin Matthews stands with his wife, Janet, and sons Jack, 9, William, 16, and Andrew, 19. Matthews is working to rebuild his life after being accused of groping a child on an airplane. Federal prosecutors later had the charges against him dropped because there was no evidence of a crime.
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Late Sugar Grove village trustee, veterans honored at festival / 10 SPORTS
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