updated 11:10 a.m. ET July 27, 2007

DENVER - An airline passenger accused of hitting her children and threatening a flight attendant on a San Francisco-to-Denver flight pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Tamera Jo Freeman, 38, has been charged with two counts of assault and one count of interfering with a flight attendant. She was arrested July 16 when her Frontier Airlines flight landed in Denver.

Federal Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer ordered Freeman to remain in jail, citing a lack of local ties to ensure she would show up for trial. He also cited medical issues but did not elaborate.

Neither Freeman nor her court-appointed lawyer, Martha Eskesen, asked that she be released on bond.

Passengers said Freeman repeatedly hit her two young children on their legs, shoulders and knees and that the children tried to hide from her, according to an arrest warrant.

Freeman's children, a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, have been placed in the custody of family members in California.

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