2 men sentenced for sexual assaults on passengers during separate flights to Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) — Two men accused of sexually assaulting passengers on airplanes in separate incidents during flights to Seattle were sentenced on Thursday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said in a statement that Abhinav Kuma of India was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison. Kumar, 39, was convicted of abusive sexual contact following a three-day trial in May.

Kumar was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Feb. 18 for allegedly groping the breast of a juvenile while she was trying to sleep on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Seattle, according to court records and trial testimony.

Desmond Bostick, of Federal Way, Washington, was sentenced Thursday to nine months in prison for assault with intent to commit a felony. He pleaded guilty to the crime as part of a plea agreement in April and will serve three years of supervised release following his time in prison.

While seated in the last row of the plane during a flight from San Diego on June 20, 2023, Bostick repeatedly touched the thigh of a woman in the middle seat next to him, prosecutors said. He also grabbed her buttocks twice when she stood up to let a passenger in the window seat exit and reenter the row.

After the plane landed, the woman reported Bostick’s actions to the flight crew. A federal grand jury returned 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 agreement that he touched the woman with sexual motivation, prosecutors said.

“The Western District of Washington continues to see an increase in cases involving sexual assault aboard aircraft, and we have a zero-tolerance policy,” U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in the statement. “These cases demonstrate that there are real consequences for this predatory behavior.”