LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (UPI) — A defrocked Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to six months in federal prison and must register as a sex offender for groping a sleeping woman during a cross country flight.
Marcelo De Jesumaria 46, of Valyermo, Calif. was found guilty in May of abusive sexual contact, a federal felony, for touching the woman during a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in August 2014. A judge Monday also ordered Jesumaria to spend six months in home confinement following his prison sentence.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office saidDe Jesumaria asked a flight attendant to move to the back row of seats to “sit next to his wife.” De Jesumaria took a middle seat, next to the woman. The woman awakened when she felt De Jesumaria’s hand near her groin and on her breast. When he relaxed his grip, she went to a bathroom and told a flight attendant what had happened.
The crew moved De Jesumaria to a front row seat and alerted authorities. He was taken into FBI custody after landing, where he told investigators he enjoyed “cozy flights” with women, prosecutors said.
At De Jesumaria’s sentencing Monday, the victim said she has continual “fear, frustration and anxiety” as a result of the incident and is reminded of it daily because she travels on airplanes regularly for work.
Prosecutors said De Jesumaria blamed the victim for the incident, saying it was “consensual because she did not reject his touches and he interpreted her silence, because she was asleep, as ‘coyness.’ “
De Jesumaria had previously served in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, but was removed in November when the allegations against him surfaced, the diocese said.
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