Detroit, August 18: In a shocking incident, a 35-year-old Indian IT manager has been convicted of sexually assaulting a sleeping woman aboard a Detroit-bound flight. Reports inform that a federal jury in Michigan’s largest city- Detroit has convicted the man of Indian origin, who lived in Rochester Hills city.
According to The Detroit News, the man, identified as Prabhu Ramamoorthy worked for an IT company for over two years and will be sentenced on December 12 by US District Judge Terrence Berg. The federal officials informed that even if Ramamoorthy is ever released, he would be deported to India.
According to a report by PTI, the verdict came seven months after he assaulted the 22-year-old woman during a Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas while his wife sat in the next seat, the report said. On Thursday, the jury deliberated three and a half hours following a five-day trial before finding Ramamoorthy guilty of touching a woman while she was sleeping on a flight in January.
“We will not tolerate the behavior of anyone who takes advantage of victims who are in a vulnerable position, and we are glad the jury agreed,” US Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement.
As per reports, the woman was sitting in a window seat next to Ramamoorthy, whose wife was in the aisle seat. Describing her ordeal, the victim said that she fell asleep and woke up to discover a hand in her pants and noticed that her pants were unbuttoned and her shirt untied. When she woke up, the man stopped, and the woman alerted a flight attendant, the PTI report said.
After the investigation into the matter began, Ramamoorthy initially told investigators that he was in a deep sleep and did not do anything. Later, he told an FBI agent he “might have” undone the woman’s bra and cupped her breast, according to court records, the report added.