Two men accused of sexually assaulting airplane passengers on flights to Seattle were sentenced Thursday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said in a statement that Abhinav Kuma, who is of Indian origin, was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Kumar, 39, was convicted of abusive sexual contact after a three-day trial in May.
Kumar was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Feb. 18 for allegedly groping a minor’s breasts as she tried to sleep on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Seattle, according to court records and trial testimony.
CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO-TV reported that the victim was 17. Prosecutors sought a 21-month sentence, arguing that Kumar took advantage of a vulnerable teenage girl, causing her lasting trauma. The victim described the assault as a “persistent and haunting presence” in her life.
Desmond Bostick, of Federal Way, Washington, was sentenced to nine months in prison for assault with intent to commit a felony. He pleaded guilty to the crime as part of a plea deal in April and will serve three years of supervised release after his time behind bars.
While sitting in the last row of a plane on a flight from San Diego on June 20, 2023, Bostick repeatedly touched the thigh of a woman sitting in the middle seat next to him, prosecutors said. He also grabbed her buttocks twice when she stood up to let a passenger sitting near the window exit and reenter the row.
After the plane landed, the woman reported Bostick’s actions to the crew. A federal grand jury issued an indictment in the case in September, and Bostick was located and arrested by the FBI on Feb. 9. Bostick admitted as part of the plea deal to touching the woman for sexual purposes, prosecutors said.
According to KIRO, U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead, who handed down both sentences, told Bostock that “to characterize your conduct as an ‘error in judgment’ would be to divorce your conduct from its true ugliness.”
U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a statement that “the Western District of Washington continues to see an increase in cases of sexual assault on aircraft, and we have a zero-tolerance policy. These cases demonstrate that this predatory behavior has real consequences.”
