Indian-American charged of sexual assault

Washington: An Indian-American has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman while she slept during a flight.
Ranchhodbhai Lakha of Georgia faces charges of assault for the September 28 incident on a Delta Air Lines flight from Dallas to Atlanta, the US Attorney Office said on Wednesday.
According to the woman, when she awoke during the September 28 Delta flight to discover that Lakha, 61, of touching her below the waist. She said that she removed his hand, but Lakha allegedly touched her again, prompting her to get up from her seat and report the incident to a flight attendant, CNN reported.

"Sexual assault is a crime wherever it happens, including airplanes," US Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in the statement.
"Many passengers let their guard down or even fall asleep in the closed, often crowded environment of an airplane, which makes this kind of sexual assault so deplorable." Lakha is in custody and has a tentative initial appearance before a US magistrate on October 25, Patrick Crosby, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Atlanta said, according to CNN.
He has not entered a plea. A call to his attorney was not immediately returned.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.