02 May 2023 , 19:28
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A 74-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly telling a flight attendant he loved her smell and then trying to grab her crotch.
Gary Matthew Sorichetti was arrested Thursday on federal charges of abusive sexual contact for his alleged behaviour aboard an American Airlines flight from Sarasota, Florida, to Charlotte, North Carolina.
The incident happened on a flight on February 28 2020.
The suspect stood up to let another passenger take the window seat when he began acting inappropriately, police documents stated.
“As Sorichetti stood up, he backed up into SJ and multiple times stated, ‘Am I squishing you, are you squishing me?’ in a playful not concerned tone,” according to the complaint.
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At one point the suspect allegedly got up to change seats with another passenger but ended up backing on to the attendant (Getty Images/iStockphoto)The passenger later asked for a seatbelt extender and the attendant offered to move him when the boarding was complete. When the time came, Sorichetti allegedly put both hands on the woman's hips.
When he asked for a seatbelt extender, she told him that she could move him to another seat to give him more room once boarding was completed.
After this she went to a colleague and told them that the passenger was being “a bit weird", the court document states.
When she returned the passenger was sitting next to her jump seat and allegedly said: “Oh, I’m happy and lucky to sit back here with you.”
When she sat down, he said, “You look scared,” according to the document.
He then allegedly told her: “I love the smell of your perfume.”
The kept asking her questions, such as: “Where are you from, where do you live?” to which she lied saying Georgia.
When the flight attendant went to help other passengers, he asked her: “Why do you keep walking around, why don’t you sit down?”.
She ignored his pestering but the comments continued, with Sorichetti saying: “Oh, I smell that perfume.”
It was then he allegedly stretched across and touched her crotch. She quickly removed his hand saying: "Don’t do that."
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The incident happened aboard an American Airlines flight (AFP via Getty Images)An arrest warrant was issued on March 4 2021, and he was taken into custody on April 27, 2023, more than two years later.
It is unclear why it took so long to arrest him.
Recently a passenger on an American Airlines flight was accused of urinating on another passenger while being "heavily intoxicated" during the long-haul flight.
Aryan Vohra, a 21-year-old man who is a student in the US, was arrested after flight AA 292 arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The young man was allegedly not adhering to crew instructions on board, repeatedly arguing with the operating crew, and was not willing to be seated.
According to a statement released by American Airlines, Vohra was heavily intoxicated during the flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to New Delhi which takes around 14 hours.
He was continuously endangering the safety of the crew and aircraft, and after disturbing the safety of fellow passengers, he urinated on a passenger who was seated in business class seat 15G, the airline said.