SALT LAKE CITY — A Texas man has been convicted of groping a woman seated next to him on a late-night commercial flight to Salt Lake City.
Robert Sutherland MacLean, 59, was found guilty Wednesday for the incident that occurred while he was flying from Chicago to Utah in March 2022, and grabbed and groped the woman multiple times without her consent.
During MacLean's trial, evidence showed that he first made "calculated and sexually laced statements" to the woman while both were seated in first class on the flight. MacLean then sexually assaulted her multiple times in the cabin.
The case was investigated by the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office and assisted by the Salt Lake City Police Department.
“Mr. MacLean unlawfully and illegally imposed his will upon another person— sexually assaulting her over and over again on that late night flight,” said prosecuting attorney Bryan N. Reeves during the trial.
MacLean is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1 in Salt Lake City.
