Woman wakes to find stranger’s hand on her thigh on flight to California, feds say

A California man accused of putting his hand on a sleeping woman’s inner thigh on a Los Angeles-bound flight faces up to two years in prison, federal officials say.

A jury found Mohammad Jawad Ansari, 49, of Pomona guilty of abusive sexual contact, a felony, on Tuesday, May 9, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Central California.

On a February 2020 flight from Cleveland to Los Angeles, Ansari sat next to a woman in a dress who fell asleep during the trip, the release said.

He put his hand on the sleeping woman’s knee, then moved it to her inner thigh, prosecutors said.

A passenger noticed Ansari’s hand on the woman’s thigh, the release said.

The woman woke up, pushed his hand away and got up to notify a flight attendant, prosecutors said. Attendants watched Ansari, who pretended to be asleep, for the rest of the flight.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in September. The release did not name the airline involved.

This story was originally published May 10, 2023 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Woman wakes to find stranger’s hand on her thigh on flight to California, feds say."