A 69-year-old man has been charged with abusive sexual contact after allegedly groping a teenager aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Seattle.
Jack Allen Roberson, of Andrews, North Carolina, was arrested upon landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and remained in custody following a detention hearing last week.
“According to records filed in the case, Roberson was seated next to the 15-year-old victim who was traveling with her guardian,” the Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a 17 July release.
“According to the criminal complaint, while Roberson appeared to be sleeping, he allegedly slipped his hand onto the victim’s thigh and ran in up under her skirt and towards her genitals. The victim reported the unwanted touching to her guardian who contacted the flight attendant.
“Roberson was moved to a different seat. Law enforcement was contacted and met the plane on arrival. Roberson was arrested and taken to the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.”
Abusive sexual contact on an aircraft is punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to DoJ. The case is being investigated by the FBI.
United States Magistrate Judge S. Kate Vaughan, in her detention order following Mr Roberson’s Thursday hearing, found that “release to an in-patient facility with GPS monitoring as a minimum would be required to mitigate the danger to the community, but Defendant is not able to access such a facility at this time.”
According to court documents, Mr Roberson had a history of alcohol abuse, his wife had obtained a protection order against him and, “after one prior episode, he was placed in an in-patient treatment but checked himself out after three days.”
Regarding this month’s in-flight incident, Mr Roberson claimed “he had consumed eight alcoholic drinks before the flight and a further two double alcoholic drinks during the flight,” according to the documents.
The judge ordered that Mr Roberson be detained pending trial.
