California man accused of groping two women on cross-country flight, faces federal charges
A Modesto man is facing federal charges after allegedly groping two women during a cross-country flight on Tuesday night.
The incidents occurred around 9:30 p.m. on a JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.
Jairaj Singh Dhillon, 42, was seated on an aisle next to the first alleged victim, who was in the middle seat next to her infant, who was in a car seat next to the window.
The woman’s husband and their preschool-aged child sat on the other side of the aisle in the middle and window seats while another woman, who was the second alleged victim, sat in the aisle seat.
It was about 30 minutes into the flight when Dhillon allegedly began touching the first victim’s left upper thigh as she attended to her baby. Before she could move away he allegedly reached between her legs and touched her groin, according to the complaint.
The woman pressed the flight attendant call-button, called out to her husband and said, “This man just groped me.”
The second victim, who’d been wearing noise-canceling headphones, noticed that the man she was seated next to was trying to get up so she got out of her seat to let him get by.
As she stood in the aisle next to Dhillon, who was still in his seat, he allegedly “reached out with both hands and simultaneously grabbed (her) groin and buttocks,” according to the complaint.
She slapped his hands away and the first victim yelled that he had just done that to her, according to the complaint.
Crew members arrived and moved Dhillon to another part of the plane, next to an empty seat
The pilot in command reported the incident to JetBlue operations and security, who in turn notified law enforcement in Boston, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement escorted Dhillon off the plane and placed him under arrest.
The first victim’s husband told authorities Dhillon “seemed off” and the second victim said he was “not all there,” according to the complaint.
An FBI agent, who detailed the incident in an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, interviewed Dhillon.
Dhillon told the agent he is a truck driver who was flying to Philadelphia - which the JetBlue flight connected to - to pick up a tractor trailer and drive it back to California.
He denied having any memory of the alleged groping incidents, said he’d taken an Ambien (a prescription sedative) about 15 minutes into the flight and that he was asleep. He said any physical contact would have been accidental, according to the complaint.
Dhillon was charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.
Following an initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday, Dhillon was held in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Dhillon faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
