A man was found guilty of abusive sexual contact after the woman claimed he had started fondling her breasts and thigh during a flight – with the assaults totalling four
A man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman during a Southwest Airlines flight. William R. McKelvy, 65, from Texas, was convicted of abusive sexual contact following a short jury trial. As a result of his conviction, he could now face up to three years in federal prison.
The incident occurred in April 2023 when McKelvy was on a Southwest flight from Tulsa to Dallas. He assaulted the woman seated next to him four times – including touching her breast and inner thigh – despite her telling him to stop.
The victim gave evidence about her traumatic experience at the trial, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. She told prosecutors that she initially believed the man had accidentally touched her, reports the Mirror.
However, when McKelvy attempted to touch her again minutes later, she forcefully pushed him away and instructed him to keep his hands to himself, said federal authorities. McKelvy proceeded to touch the woman a third and fourth time, leading the victim to shout, “Get your (expletive) hand off me, or I will break your (expletive) hand,” as per the statement.
Prosecutors stated that her outcry caught the attention of other passengers, who alerted the flight attendants to the situation. The flight attendants then relocated McKelvy to the rear of the plane and arranged for police to meet the aircraft upon its arrival at Love Field.
Upon encountering the police, McKelvy admitted to vaping on the plane and made a distasteful remark about his interaction with the female passenger, stating he had “flirted with this chick”. During the court proceedings, McKelvy claimed he had no memory of the incident as he had consumed alcohol and marijuana gummies before boarding the flight.
“Sexual assault aboard an aircraft is a federal crime investigated by the FBI,” stated FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “It is because of fellow passengers and the flight crew that the defendant was detained and charged for assaulting the victim multiple times.”
The jury took just 30 minutes to deliberate before returning with a verdict, and McKelvy is now set to be sentenced on 8 September. This follows an incident where a British passenger was ejected from a plane at New York’s JFK airport after allegedly engaging in indecent behaviour, causing the flight to be delayed by several hours.
According to co-passengers, he approached a total stranger with the vulgar proposition, “Ever had a hand job on a plane?” After he was rebuffed, he reportedly exposed himself and began openly masturbating, even showing explicit images of himself on his mobile and attempting to touch the passenger seated next to him.
After initially taking off, the flight had to return to the original airport as police were called to the scene to remove the man.
He was not forced from the plane, according to reports, but was just swiftly moved off the aircraft – leaving the other passengers stranded.
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