Earlier this week, news broke of a 26-year-old man who was arrested on June 15 for abusive sexual conduct after groping an unaccompanied 13-year-old girl on an American Airlines flight from Dallas, Texas, to Portland, Oregon. Now another such incident has been reported on an Alaska Airlines flight.
On Tuesday, a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Anchorage, Alaska, had to be diverted in Seattle after a sleeping 16-year-old girl was groped by a 23-year-old man. Alaska Dispatch News writes that, according to police reports, after the girl drifted off to sleep, she felt a hand grab her thigh, but she assumed it was a mistake. But then the man, identified as Jesse Salas, kissed her using tongue and continually tried to grab her as she pushed him away. Finally, another passenger and the crew intervened.
The girl said Salas smelled of “stale beer,” and a police officer at the scene said he appeared to be intoxicated.
When the plane was diverted in Seattle, Salas was arrested on a charge of fourth-degree assault. He bonded out of his $1,000 bail on Wednesday morning.
