A Bay Area man was accused of sexually assaulting a passenger on a Monday flight from Sacramento to Denver.
According to a criminal complaint first obtained by KXTL in Sacramento, the suspect, 26-year-old Robert Earl Glasper III of Oakland, was arrested in Denver after allegedly touching a passenger and masturbating openly during the flight while “under the influence.”
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, said Glasper grabbed the male passenger’s buttocks and “repeatedly put his hand on top of the Victim’s left leg” and firmly cupped his leg.
Glasper also allegedly attempted to hold the victim’s hand and asked to “jerk him off,” the complaint said. When the flight reached cruising altitude, the suspect reportedly asked to switch seats with the victim to be closer to a third passenger on the same row. The victim refused, all the while appearing “paralyzed and deeply uncomfortable,” according to a statement in the criminal complaint obtained from a separate witness across the aisle.
“Ummm this guy is really handsy and a creep,” read a message from the victim shown to the third passenger, per the complaint.
Glasper later began masturbating on the flight and exposed himself to the victim, the complaint alleged.
The witness then asked a flight attendant to seat both themselves and the victim away from Glasper. The witness said the victim was crying later in his new seat.
It is unclear on which airline the alleged assault took place. A report by travel blog One Mile at a Time speculated that, due to the timing and location of the flight, the incident likely took place on a Southwest or United flight.
A Southwest spokesperson told SFGATE that the airline is unaware of any such incident taking place on one of its flights; a United spokesperson did not immediately respond to SFGATE.
If convicted of sexual assault, the man could face up to two years in prison, KTXL reports.
