He most probably ‘pled guilty’ to gain a minor slap on the wrist. As opposed to what they would have done had he claimed ‘not guilty’ and been railroaded.
“Michael Haak, 60, apologized and expressed remorse for his actions before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation and a $5,000 fine.”
The guilt phase is complete, now on to the civil case and I expect that Southwest is going to have to pay out.