I recently wrote about a New Jersey man who was found guilty by a federal jury for sexually abusing a sleeping woman aboard a flight from Phoenix to Newark Liberty International Airport last summer on a United Airlines flight — “NJ Man Convicted of Sexually Abusing Sleeping Woman on Flight”  And I thought that was bad…

The INCIDENT
An FBI press release summarized the case evidence at the trial as showing:

  • Defendant was the last passenger to board a Southwest Airlines flight from LAS to Chicago’s MDW on June 14, 2011;
  • He was seated in the only open seat available between the victim, who had chosen a window seat to sleep during the flight, and her husband, who had chosen an aisle seat to enable easier access during the flight. The couple were returning from Las Vegas to Chicago after celebrating their 34th wedding anniversary;
  • The victim, now 65, testified that she was groped three times by the defendant before realizing what was going on, began pushing him away, and yelling at him, “Get your hands off me!” among other things;
  • Other passengers and flight attendants also testified during the trial; and
  • Another victim from a prior incident with defendant testified to how he had fondled her breast on a flight from Detroit to Chicago in August 1999, to which he previously plead guilty to for a state charge of battery in Cook County in 2000.
Southwest Airlines Seats

SWA Seats — Do you sit apart if traveling as a couple? I’ll remember this case when debating that option.

Lastly, yet another prior conviction of defendant in 2002 was reviewed by the court in which he was sentenced in federal court in Detroit to three years’ probation after he was convicted of abusive sexual contact for groping the breast of yet another woman aboard a flight from San Jose, California, to Detroit. The defendant is already a registered sex offender in Illinois [search website] due to his prior conviction.

The SENTENCING
Yesterday, September 11, 2013, an Aurora man was sentenced  to nine months in federal prison for sexually groping the inner thigh of a Chicago area woman while they were seated next to each other aboard an airplane from Las Vegas to Chicago in June 2011. Similarly to the NJ defendant, this defendant took his case before a jury where he was convicted of abusive sexual contact.  Furthermore, he had a criminal history that included two previous convictions for nearly identical crimes, according to prosecutors.

The defendant, Srinivasa Erramilli, a 46-year-old software consultant, was fined $5,000 and placed on court supervision for a year after he is released from custody by U.S. District Judge Joan H. Lefkow of the U.S. District Court, Northern Dist. of Illinois based in Chicago. He further is prohibited from airline travel while he is on supervised release, and he is subject to deportation to India after being released from custody.

Convicted federal criminal defendants are sentenced with guidance for the judge from the advisory federal sentencing guidelines (known as the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which used to be mandatory instead of advisory). His guideline range equated to 10-16 months in custody, due to the offense level and his criminal history. Judge Lefkow said she would have imposed a 13-month sentence but reduced that by four months to give him credit for the time he spent in immigration custody following the assault.

The TAKEAWAY
I’m very interested to hear your thoughts, including:

  • Was the judge’s sentence to 9 months (time served) sufficient and appropriate for this convicted serial airline groper?
  • Should such a traveler draw the attention of airlines to ban such customers? Do you support such airlines that already do? By what standard? (For example, see also 
    Air Canada Bans Unruly Passenger For Life: Too Harsh?)

 

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