A New Jersey plane passenger has been charged with sexually assaulting a terrified mom as she sat next to her daughter.
Bhaveshkumar Dahyabhai Shukla, 36, of Parsippany, repeatedly groped the unidentified mom on an American Airlines flight from Montana to Dallas in January, according to federal prosecutors.
Shukla touched the woman on her butt, thighs and lower back after flight attendants made their first round, according to the criminal complaint.
He stopped when she first told him to — only to repeat his disturbing act when the woman returned to her seat after taking her daughter to the bathroom, according to the complaint, which did not say how old the daughter was.
Shukla continued to “rub” her,” the mom “including on her thighs, hip and vagina,” the complaint states.
The female passenger “turned towards her daughter, who was seated in the seat next to the window, to try and shield what was happening and again told Shukla to stop touching her,” the FBI said.
The mother was “scared” of Shukla and texted her husband — who was not on the flight — about what was happening, the complaint said.
The husband alerted federal authorities and officials at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, who met Shukla at the gate.
He denied touching the woman while claiming that he did not speak English, despite the accuser saying he spoke it to her and her daughter before the alleged assault, the filing stated.
Shukla was charged with abusive sexual contact in special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States and is scheduled to be arraigned on April 17.
He faces two years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and at least five years of supervised release if convicted.
