A California-based Catholic priest was sentenced Monday to six months in prison followed by six months of home confinement for groping a sleeping woman seated next to him on an airliner.
Marcelo de Jesumaria, 46, was sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles. A jury found him guilty in May of abusive sexual contact.
Jesumaria touched a sleeping woman's buttocks, breast and groin during a nighttime flight last August from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.
The woman, a model, says she woke up as Jesumaria was touching her and reported the abuse to flight attendants and later an FBI agent. Jesumaria told the agent that he enjoys "cozy flights" with women and purposefully changed his seat to be next to the woman, but he initially denied touching her breast, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Jesumaria was able to get his seat switched to be next to the woman by lying to a flight attendant that she was his wife.
Jesumaria's attorney, Steven Cron, did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday.
Cron argued that Jesumaria did not deserve prison, saying he's in therapy and "doesn't need time in custody to recognize the seriousness of his actions."
"As a result of his actions ... Jesumaria has lost his career, his position of esteem in the community, and he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life," Cron wrote in court records. "He acknowledged that his behavior was wrong."
Cron said Jesumaria repeatedly offered to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge in the case, but prosecutors unfairly rejected him in favor of a felony conviction.
Prosecutors wrote in court records that Jesumaria's testimony blamed the victim and considered his touching her consensual "because she did not reject his touches and he interpreted her silence, because she was asleep, as 'coyness.' "
The victim in the case said in court Monday that the crime has made her fearful and anxious, and that she is reminded of the experience every day, in part because she regularly flies for her job, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
In a text message to her agent after the abuse, the woman wrote: "So I was asleep and woke up (because) I could feel someone touching me," according to court records.
"This creep next to me was groping me, my boobs and butt!" she wrote. "He had a full-on grip and then I woke up and he wouldn't let go of me."
Flight attendants reported that the woman was pale, shaking and on the verge of tears when she reported what happened. Flight attendants moved the woman to another seat, and the FBI arrested Jesumaria upon landing.
Jesumaria was previously with the Diocese of San Bernardino, California.
In a statement Monday, the diocese said it considers Jesumaria's actions "sinful and unlawful."
"We removed him from ministry in the diocese immediately after we became aware of this allegation in November," the statement said. "We are deeply regretful of any harm that may have occurred as a result of his actions."