Man who groped sleeping woman on plane to Los Angeles gets nearly 2 years in prison

A Diamond Bar man who was found guilty of groping a sleeping woman on a plane from Cleveland to Los Angeles in 2020 was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison, officials said Thursday.

Back in May, a jury found Mohammad Jawad Ansari, 50, guilty of one count of abusive sexual contact, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Aside from the 21 month sentence, he was also ordered to pay a $33,750 fine, $1,600 in restitution, a $100 special assessment and an additional $5,000 special assessment, officials said.

The charge stems from a Feb. 21, 2020 incident when Ansari was on a flight from Clevland to LAX. He intentionally touched the inner thigh of a woman sleeping in the seat next to him, officials said.

“At some point during the flight to Los Angeles, Ansari placed his left hand on the victim’s right knee and, without the victim’s consent, moved his hand to her inner thigh,” officials detailed. “The person sitting in the aisle seat next to the victim witnessed Ansari’s hand touching the victim’s inner thigh.”

When the victim awoke, she pushed Ansari’s hand away and informed a flight attendant about what had occurred. Flight attendants observed Ansari during the remainder of the flight and believed that he was pretending to be sleeping, officials said.