According to a release listed by the United States Attorney’s Office on Friday, an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Salt Lake City was diverted to Tulsa, Okla. after a man supposedly grabbed the groin of a passenger who was sitting next to him.
32-year-old, James Clayton Cholewinski-Boy was charged with the abusive physical contact of a female passenger by federal prosecutors as a consequence of his alleged activities on the plane, the release declared.
An FBI agent described in an affidavit that Cholewinski-Boy touched the arm of a woman next to him throughout the flight on Tuesday, making her push his hands away.
She told the suspect continued his advances, grabbing her groin before she pushed his hand away and said him to stop — at which time he held up his hands and regretted.
After the event, flight attendants moved the woman and her daughter to a pair of seats away from the defendant.
When the plane arrived in Tulsa, Cholewinski-Boy was detained and airport police charged him with public intoxication before handing the case over to the FBI, which registered a physical contact complaint.
“The public should know these accusations pertain to criminal physical misconduct by Mr. Cholewinski-Boy against a female passenger, not a danger to the plane or air travel,” Shores told. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with Tulsa International Airport law enforcement officers reacted quickly and professionally to this situation as soon as the plane touched down in Tulsa.”
Cholewinski-Boy was freed from jail on Wednesday, according to Tulsa city jail documents and it’s not quickly clear if he has a lawyer.
The FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration and Tulsa Internation Airport all helped in the inquiry.
Cholewinski-Boy was detained for a DUI in 2010 and declared guilty to intoxication in July 2018.