BOSTON — A federal grand jury has indicted a Newton father for allegedly making repeated sexual contact with and inappropriately touching a 17-year-old passenger onboard a 2024 flight from Puerto Rico to Boston, the U.S. Attorney said.
Jonathan Alan Lefman, 46, was indicted in Boston on one count of abusive sexual contact while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement on Tuesday.
Lefman was arrested on Feb. 7 on a criminal complaint and released on conditions.
Lefman was a passenger onboard a JetBlue flight flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Boston with his wife and four children on Aug. 30, 2024 when he began touching a 17-year-old girl seated directly in front of him, prosecutors allege.
The U.S. Attorney’s office released photographs of the alleged incident that the 17-year-old girl took with her cell phone on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said that several times during the flight, and while on the ground waiting to deplane in Boston, Lefman “allegedly engaged in abusive sexual contact with the minor victim.”
“Lefman intentionally worked his hand in between and through the area between the back and bottom of the seat directly in front of him, where the minor victim was seated, and touched the minor victim’s buttocks without her permission,” prosecutors said.
At least one time, the girl “saw his reflection leaning between the seats in the seatback monitor in front of her.”
The girl was able to use her cell phone camera to take a video of Lefman’s fingers protruding between the back and bottom of her airplane seat.
According to court documents, after the girl exited the aircraft, while still on the jet bridge, she took a video of Lefman as he got off the airplane.
After deplaning, the girl’s family member, who had been seated in a different row, reported Lefman’s alleged conduct to a JetBlue supervisor and confronted Lefman, showing the video of his fingers to support her statement.
If convicted on the charge of abusive sexual contact while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, Lefman faces a sentence of up to two years in prison, five years to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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