Pomona man found guilty of abusive sexual contact of a sleeping passenger while on flight
A federal jury found a Pomona man guilty of abusive sexual contact for intentionally touching the inner thigh of a sleeping woman seated next to him on a flight from Cleveland to Los Angeles in February 2020.
According to evidence presented at a four-day trial, on February 17, 2020, Mohammad Jawad Ansari, 49, boarded his Cleveland-based flight and occupied a 10th-row window seat while the victim occupied the middle seat next to him.
The victim, who was wearing a dress, fell asleep shortly after takeoff and the armrest separating Ansari from the victim was down.
At some point during the flight to Los Angeles, Ansari placed his left hand on the victim's right knee and without the victim's consent, moved his hand to her inner thigh. The person sitting in the 10th-row aisle seat next to the victim witnessed Ansari's hand touching the victim's inner thigh.
The victim woke up, pushed Ansari's hand away, left her seat, and informed a flight attendant about what had happened. The flight's attendants observed Ansari during the remainder of the flight and believed he was pretending to sleep.
Ansari will be sentenced September 29 and faces a statutory maximum sentence of two years in federal prison.
The FBI and the Los Angeles Airport Police investigated this matter. To mark Sexual Assault Prevention Month, the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office on April 28 issued a public service announcement to bring awareness to the problem of sexual assault on airplanes. Victims of in-flight sexual misconduct – either verbal or physical – or their loved ones are encouraged to report the incident to a flight attendant and to your nearest FBI field office or to submit a tip online to the FBI at https://tips.fbi.gov/.
