NJ man avoids prison after molesting woman on flight

✈️ Robbinsville man admitted groping woman next to him on plane

✈️ The woman was too frightened to tell the flight crew what happened

A New Jersey man who admitted to groping a passenger sitting next to him on a flight from Newark to Montana in September was sentenced to probation.

Piyush Mathew, 31, of Robbinsville, admitted in March that while on board the United flight he pretended to be sleeping as he touched the woman in multiple locations on her body including her thighs, fingers, arms, stomach, and breasts.

At the end of the flight, the woman felt threatened by Mathew when he stood up behind her during deboarding and felt she could not safely alert the flight crew to what had happened, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Jesse Laslovich said.

She asked another male passenger to stay with her and pretend to be a friend of her husband's as she left the plane, according to Laslovich.

Protection from a stranger

The man told law enforcement the woman looked to be upset and about to cry,

When police went to interview Mathew in New Jersey about the woman's allegations, Mathew responded, “Did she complain that I was touching her?”

Mathew was sentenced to five years of probation, with six months of home confinement, ordered to register as a sex offender and to pay a total of $5,100 in special assessments.

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