A New Jersey man was indicted on Thursday for sexually abusing a woman who had fallen sleep next to him.
On August 21, Bawer Aksal was detained when his United Airlines flight from Phoenix landed in Newark, New Jersey. Aksal had been sitting next to a woman in a window seat on the plane. The woman fell asleep and Aksal inappropriately touched her, CNN reports.
"While the plane was in the air, the woman -- who did not know Aksal -- fell asleep with a jacket across her legs. She awoke to find Aksal's hands inside her shirt and shorts as he asked her to kiss him," according to a news release from the New Jersey District Attorney's Office.
The federal government has jurisdiction over all sexual assault cases that occur on American airplane flights as state jurisdiction does not apply to cases that occur in the skies. Aksal may be looking at a life-in prison sentence and a $250,000 fine for the serious incident.
Aksal remains detained but U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo set bail at $100,000.
Aksal's criminal defense lawyer, Robert J. Degroot, could not be reaches. There will be no further hearing until Aksal settles his bail.
This isn't the first time a sexual assault has taken place in the skies recently. Last month, a 29-year-old man was arrested and charged after groping the crotch of an 18-year-old man who was sleeping next to him.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
