New York, August 17: A 65-year-old American of Indian origin has been sentenced to a year in federal prison and fined $10,000 for sexually abusing a woman while she slept on board a flight from Hong Kong to Newark.
Ramesh Advani, of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey was sentenced Monday in US District Court in Newark. He had previously pleaded guilty before a US District Judge to abusive sexual conduct, newjersey.com reported.
Advani will be under a five-year supervision order after his release.
He was arrested last May when a Continental Airlines flight he boarded in Hong Kong landed at Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.
According to court documents, during the flight, Advani reached under the blanket of a woman who was asleep in the seat next to him and sexually abused her.
Two passengers witnessed the assault and began kicking the woman's chair to wake her up. She then alerted the flight's crew members.
The case was heard in federal court because the flight was over international waters at the time of the incident.
