A Claremont, California man, Justin Baker, 41, has been found guilty of abusive sexual contact aboard an Alaska Airlines flight that was heading from Burbank, California, to Seattle. The conviction was reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Taken into custody on March 14, 2024, upon the aircraft’s arrival at SEA, Baker faced the verdict immediately following a jury’s concise 90-minute deliberation after a three-day trial. The sentencing, as per U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour’s schedule, is set for January 21, 2025.
During the trial, as mentioned by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, evidence and testimonies painted a harrowing picture of the incident. Baker, who was seated in the middle seat, engaged with a victim next to him, an 18-year-old woman about to enter college. In a disturbing sequence, Baker displayed to the teen sexually explicit messages on his phone and proceeded to cover both his and her lower body with his jacket. The young woman, in an attempt to retreat from his advances, was met with his unwelcome touch under the jacket on her leg and genitals over her clothing and on her breast as he also reached into her top.
Despite the victim’s clear opposition and attempts to escape Baker’s advances, he further violated her by groping her buttocks as she tried to pass by him to alert a flight crew. Assistant United States Attorney Kristine Foerster stated that Baker seemed to treat the word ‘No’ lightly, suggesting that he considered it “as a speedbump, not a stop sign.” Compounding the troubling behaviors, prosecutors brought forth a previous victim, who testified that as a 15-year-old in 2004, she was molested in a similar manner by Baker, at the time a youth pastor, who also disregarded her voiced refusals…