Awful: Airline Passenger Sexually Assaults (Male) Seatmate

Usually it’s women who are the victims of sexual assault on planes, but in this case it was a guy. The details of this story are quite disturbing…

Denver-bound passenger assaulted by seatmate

An affidavit filed in federal court this week has the details of an incident that unfolded on a Sacramento to Denver flight on Monday, October 25, 2021. Specifically, Robert Glasper III allegedly repeatedly touched his seatmate, then proceeded to masturbate, and then asked his seatmate to jerk him off.

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According to the affidavit:

• Glasper appeared to be “under the influence” while boarding the plane, and “looked lost” while staring out the window and at the surroundings
• After the plane door closed, the victim attempted to put on his seatbelt, but noticed that Glasper was sitting on it; when the victim said “I think you may be sitting on my buckle” and moved around a bit so they could both get situated, Glasper reached out with his hand and grasped the victim’s left buttocks, “giving a squeeze”
• Glasper continued to touch the victim’s leg, applying slight pressure with his finger while making a “cupping motion” with his hand
• The victim states that Glasper repeatedly tried to hold his hand, though the perpetrator could only put his hands on top, since the victim kept both of his hands firmly in his lap; the touching would last anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes at a time
• Glasper repeatedly asked to switch seats with the victim (who was in the middle seat), which is believed to be an attempt for him to get closer to the female passenger in the aisle seat
• After Glasper went to the bathroom, he returned and began masturbating and exposing himself, saying “look at this,” and allegedly asking the victim to “jerk him off”
• At this point the victim contacted the flight attendants (which he had been apprehensive about prior to this), and was moved to a seat at the front of the plane
• The plane landed at Denver International Airport just after 8:30PM, at which point Glasper was met by law enforcement; the airline in the incident isn’t named, though presumably it was either Southwest Airlines or United Airlines, based on the schedule and timing

Glasper now faces three federal offenses:

• Sexual contact without permission within special aircraft jurisdiction
• Lewd, indecent, obscene acts within special aircraft jurisdiction
• Simple assault within special aircraft jurisdiction

It’s sad it took so long for this to be reported

Unfortunately this isn’t surprising given that this is often the case with sexual assault victims, but it’s sad how long this took to be reported.

It sounds like this situation could have been dealt with before departure, based on Glasper seemingly being under some sort of an influence, and touching his seatmate’s butt before the plane even left the gate. Ultimately the victim didn’t decide to report this until his seatmate literally asked him to jerk him off, which is a sad reflection of how uncomfortable people are coming forward in situations like this.

To be clear, I can totally understand why that is. While the dynamic might be different if it’s a man assaulting a man rather than a man assaulting a woman, that opens up a whole different set of reasons that the traveler might have been uncomfortable reporting this.

Credit to the victim for at least trying to protect the female in the aisle by not letting this creep switch seats with him and be in the middle of two passengers.

Bottom line

A man on a Sacramento to Denver flight was sexually assaulted by his seatmate. At first the perpetrator touched his butt, rubbed his leg, and tried to hold his hand. Then eventually he started masturbating, and asked his seatmate to jerk him off. Hopefully the guy is held responsible for his actions and gets help.

It’s just sad (though not surprising) how long it took for this to be reported.

What do you make of this very uncomfortable incident?