(NewsReady.com) – Federal authorities arrested Jairaj Singh Dhillon in June 2022 for two assaults that took place the month before. In March 2023, he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the US. He was recently sentenced but managed to avoid jail time.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts issued a press release revealing the 43-year-old received his sentence on June 15. US District Court Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson sentenced him to one year of probation, with the first six months served under house arrest.
As a result of an #FBI Boston investigation with @MassStatePolice, Jairaj Singh Dhillon, of Modesto, Calif., has been sentenced for assaulting two women aboard a redeye flight from Los Angeles to Boston. https://t.co/ZeXTmGQ9zq
— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) June 16, 2023
According to the criminal complaint filed against the defendant, the crimes took place during a May 31, 2022, flight aboard a JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston. Dhillon was seated in an aisle seat next to Victim 1, who was in the middle, and her infant child, who was by the window. About 30 minutes into the flight, Dhillon started caressing Victim 1’s thigh, then reached between her legs and touched her groin as she was trying to take care of her infant in the car seat next to her.
Victim 1 slapped Dhillon’s hand away, hit the call button for the flight attendant, and shouted for her husband, who was seated across the aisle. She loudly stated, “this man just groped me.” The husband was seated next to Victim 2, who moved out of her aisle seat so he could stand up. When she did that, Dhillon reached up with both of his hands and grabbed her buttocks and groin.
Authorities interviewed Dhillon after the incident, and he said that he took Ambien to help him sleep during the flight and didn’t remember what happened. He told the police that he wasn’t sexually attracted to either of the women who he attacked and would not have touched them. Victim 2 said it appeared Dhillon was “not all there” during the incident.
The federal charge of assault while in the US special aircraft jurisdiction has a maximum sentence of up to six months in prison and up to a year of supervised probation, and a $5,000 fine. He could have served a year in prison if the judge had sentenced him to the maximum for both counts and made him serve the sentences consecutively.
Copyright 2023, NewsReady.com
