Feds say NJ man is another ‘mile-high’ perv who groped woman on flight

NEWARK — A Mercer County man is facing charges that he fondled a sleeping woman's breast during an international flight.

Ganesh Parkar, 40, an Indian national who lives in the Windsor section of Robbinsville, was on an Air India flight from Mumbai to Newark on Wednesday when he got up from his business class seat and moved to the economy class, where he sat next to the sleeping woman and grabbed her breast without her consent, federal prosecutors said.

Parkar faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the one count of abusive sexual contact on an airplane.

Parkar was released on $50,000 unsecured bond and ordered into home detention with electronic monitoring. He also was ordered to surrender his passport and travel documents.

Sexual assaults aboard airplanes are not uncommon.

In May, a registered sex offender from New York groped a woman's breast and thighs on a Tel Aviv to Newark flight.

Last year, a New Jersey woman said she was assaulted by a Pakistani man from New York while she slept on a Dubai to JFK flight. She testified that she woke up covered in lotion and feeling sore. He was sentenced to two years in prison in August.

In 2012, a Turkish national living in North Bergen was charged with molesting a woman on a Phoenix to Newark flight. He was sentenced in 2014 to more than eights years in prison.

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Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-438-1015 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.