2 men sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting passengers on flights to Seattle

Last Thursday, two men were sentenced to prison in separate cases of sexually assaulting passengers on flights to Seattle. Both sentences were imposed in U.S. District Court.

Indian man sexually assaulted girl on Emirates flight to Seattle

The first case where a sentence was issued involved 39-year-old Abhinav Kumar, a citizen of India, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

Kumar was arrested at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac Airport) Feb. 8 after he groped the breast of a 17-year-old girl sitting in the same row as him on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Seattle. The girl was traveling with her family who was sitting in front of her and across the aisle from her. Kumar was in the window seat with an open middle seat between him and the girl.

Previous coverage: 39-year-old man convicted of groping teen on flight from Dubai to Seattle

Kumar started talking to the girl and asked her to meet for coffee, to which she declined. Later, while the girl was trying to sleep under a blanket, Kumar spread his blanket over himself and over the middle seat.

According to the news release, onboard video shows the movement of Kumar’s arm under the blanket reaching toward the girl. The girl woke up to a hand under her blanket and pulled away. However, Kumar reached out again, moving up her arm, then inside her shirt and eventually to her breast.

The victim froze but then got up and asked her mother to come to the bathroom with her. The Emirates crew was notified and alerted law enforcement to meet the plane. Kumar was arrested and convicted following a 3-day jury trial in May.

“Kumar took advantage of a vulnerable 17-year-old girl by assaulting her while she was asleep,” prosecutors wrote to the court. “He reached inside her shirt to stroke her bare breast and stopped his assault only when a flight attendant was approaching.”

“Not only did he demonstrate gross disregard for others’ bodily privacy and cause lasting trauma for the victim, but he has never acknowledged his crime nor demonstrated any understanding that he may not use girls for his personal gratification,” prosecutors continued.

The girl also wrote to the court, saying the assault, “has become a persistent, haunting presence in my life.”

“The experience has changed me,” the girl added. “It has tainted my perceptions of others and made me fearful of strangers.”

Kumar was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Man repeatedly touches woman on Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle

The second case sentenced involved 25-year-old Desmond D. Bostick. Gorman reported in her statement that Bostick pleaded guilty in April to admitting the sexual motivation for his assault on a 24-year-old stranger sitting next to him on a June 2023 Alaska Airlines flight from San Diego to Seattle.

More details: Washington man pleads guilty to groping woman on San Diego to Seattle flight

Bostick was seated in the last row of the plane in the aisle seat and the woman was seated in the middle seat. Bostick repeatedly touched the woman on the thigh and grabbed her buttocks when she stood up to allow the passenger seat to exit and again when she stood up to let the passenger return to his seat.

Bostick admitted he touched the woman to arouse his sexual desire.

After the plane landed the woman reported the sexual assault to the flight crew and law enforcement started investigating. Bostick had left the airport and his location was unknown. He was then found and arrested by the FBI on Feb. 9. He pleaded guilty April 11.

“Bostick assaulted a young woman while she sat isolated on a plane in flight,” prosecutors wrote to the court. “He repeatedly groped her while she was stuck in the middle seat of the back of an airplane with nowhere to go. Sexual offenses on airplanes are a serious problem. General deterrence is important so that potential offenders consider the risk of consequences if they are caught.”

Assault by employee: Woman sues Delta Air Lines after sexually assaulted on flight by employee

Bostic was sentenced to nine months in prison for assault with intent to commit a felony. Bostick will serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

“To characterize your conduct as a ‘lapse of judgment’ would be to divorce your conduct from its true ugliness,” U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead told Bostick.

Western Washington is continuing to see more cases involving sexual assault on flights, Gorman added in her release.

Read more: Sexual assaults on airplanes see dramatic rise

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.