Passenger charged with sexual assault during flight from Montana to Texas

BILLINGS -  A New Jersey man accused of sexual assault while flying from Bozeman, Montana to Dallas, Texas was charged this week, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

The defendant, Bhaveshkumar Dahyabhai Shukla, 36, of Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey, was charged in a one-count indictment with abusive sexual contact in special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States. If convicted, Shukla faces two years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release.

Shukla is scheduled to appear on April 17, 2025, for an arraignment.

The indictment alleges that on January 26, 2025, on board an American Airlines flight from Bozeman to Dallas, Shukla engaged in sexual contact with another person without that other person’s permission.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The FBI, ICE and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Police conducted the investigation.

The charging documents are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

PACER case reference. 25-08.

The progress of cases may be monitored through the U.S. District Court Calendar and the PACER system. To establish a PACER account, which provides electronic access to review documents filed in a case, please visit http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the District Court’s calendar, please visit https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.

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