Seattle man sentenced for groping teen on flight from Paris

SEATTLE - A 36-year-old Seattle man was sentenced to eight months in prison for groping a high school girl on a flight from Paris in 2022.

Milan Edward Jurkovic groped a 16-year-old Western Washington girl seated next to him on an Air France flight returning from Paris on July 3, 2022. He was identified and interviewed by investigators, then indicted by a grand jury on Jan. 4, 2023, before being arrested on Jan. 30, 2023.

He was convicted in Dec. 2023 after a three-day trial.

"The flight back should have been nothing less than the end of a joyous trip and instead she is the victim of a crime," said U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik at Jurkovic’s sentencing Tuesday. "It shouldn’t have happened."

According to court records, roughly three hours into the flight, Jurkovic reached under the teen’s blanket and groped her thigh. The girl was shocked and frozen with fear, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, and he moved to her inner thigh before she was able to pull away and switch seats with a chaperone.

Jurkovic told the chaperone he was "rubbing his leg due to bad circulation," and may have accidentally touched her.

When he was later interviewed by detectives, he said he had an itch on his leg and that he did not hurt anyone.

"Trapped in an aircraft cabin, these assaults are particularly traumatic for vulnerable young people who trust the adults around them to behave appropriately," said U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman. "In this case the defendant groped a teenager traveling with a school group. She bravely spoke up. As I noted a year ago, we have a zero-tolerance policy for these aircraft sexual assaults. Predators will be prosecuted."

Prosecutors pushed for a 16-month sentence, noting the recent spate of reports of sexual assaults on planes.