A 61-year-old man was arrested after groping a woman on a United Airlines flight while she was sleeping.
Indian national, Devender Singh, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was on a Newark-bound flight on Sunday when he allegedly sexually harassed the woman.
He has since been charged with one count of abusive sexual contact. He appeared in federal court in New Jersey on Monday, the Daily Mail reports.
The woman said that she was sleeping in her window seat when she woke up and found Singh kissing her and putting his hand down her shirt. He also exposed himself to her and was allegedly touching himself.
While being assaulted, the woman managed to push Singh off of her and she ran to the back of the plane to tell the cabin crew about what happened. The woman demanded that police meet the plane when it landed so that Singh could be arrested. After the United Airlines flight from Houston landed at the airport in Newark, Singh was taken into custody by the FBI.
According to U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul J. Fishman, the woman that was attacked did not know Singh.
Since the incident occurred in the air, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the case, as they do in all sexual abuse cases that occur on flights in the United States. If Singh is convicted, he may face up to two years in prison and will have to pay a $250,000 fine.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
