Man Gets 7 Years in Midflight Sex Assault

Aug. 5, 2005
A man was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman sleeping next to him on an airline flight.

BOSTON (AP) -- A man was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman sleeping next to him on an airline flight.

Deepak Jahagirdar, 55, a former health care executive from Scottsdale, Ariz., was convicted in April of sexually abusing and having abusive sexual contact with the woman, then 22.

The woman was traveling alone and returning to Boston from a vacation in Texas in 2002 when she said she awoke to find Jahagirdar sexually assaulting her.

She left her seat and alerted the flight crew, and Jahagirdar was arrested when the flight landed. The case was transferred from state to federal court because the assault occurred in mid-flight.

The woman, now 25, did not speak at the sentencing hearing. She wiped away tears after U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf announced the sentence.