Delta Flyer Charged With Sexually Assaulting Child After Standby Tickets Separate Family
Joe Cortez March 27, 2015
A 48-year-old Delta flyer has been accused of inappropriately touching a child during a flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City.
A Chicago man has been charged with abusive sexual contact after witnesses say he inappropriately touched a 3-year-old boy on a Delta Air Lines flight from O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) Monday night. The Deseret News reports Kevin Matthews, 48, was charged in U.S. District Court, as the situation took place in the “special aircraft jurisdiction” of the country.
The child was reportedly flying with family on standby tickets, meaning they were not guaranteed to be seated together. The boy’s mother was assigned a seat across the aisle from Matthews and her son.
Eyewitnesses claim that Matthews was particularly friendly to the 3-year-old, allowing the child to play with his iPhone and iPad during the flight. In addition, one witness told the FBI that Matthews “was constantly giving [the boy] high fives and asking [him] if Matthews could hold [his] hand.”
Another witness, who was seated behind Matthews, said he became concerned about the man’s behavior toward the child and decided to check on the situation. The unnamed witness then reportedly saw Matthews with his hand on the child’s groin and alerted a flight attendant. Fight crew quickly notified Salt Lake City Airport Police of the situation and moved the boy to his mother’s lap. Airport police turned the case over to the FBI.
In an affidavit, Matthews told the FBI that he had “four or five” glasses of wine during the flight but remained in control of his actions. Matthews reportedly recalled asking the child to hold his hand, but he denied touching him otherwise.
During arraignment, Matthews was ordered not to travel without the court’s permission and comply with electronic monitoring. The defense attorney for Matthews offered no comment to Chicago’s WGN-TV.
[Photos: Salt Lake County Jail; Delta Air Lines]
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I call Shennanigans. Guy was being friendly to a 3 year old, and now we're crucifying him because someone SAYS he had his hand in the kids groin?? It's easy to say stuff like that, and we're ruining this man's life and reputation.
I'm pretty sure statistically children are safer sitting alone on an airplanes than at their desk in a classroom. Sad (but not surprising) to see parents use a one-in-a-million incident like this to justify special privileges for themselves and their families.
I am going to give thought to composing a letter to all the airlines I am associated with and asking authority to be given to flight attendants to change passengers to other seats in these situations. Honestly, if the flight weight is not balanced or any other safety issue arise, passengers are asked to move to other seats in the aircraft. Why are we asking a parent to separate from the parent? Unfortunately in the world we live in and the chance remains an issue like this can happen, YES give up your precious seat so a parent can sit with their child.
Pokeable- way to be insensitive about an innocent child being sexually assaulted. Your stance on keeping your all-important seat assignment is more important. We get it.
IMO any child who is not old enough to be an unaccompanied minor should not be allowed to sit alone on an aircraft. That means any child under 5 should be allowed to be separated from his/her parent/guardian. My niece is 4 years old and we would never let her sit alone in flight. The problem here is it appears that the family flying standby was non-rev. Non-revs are not supposed to ask people to change seats with them. In fact, they could lose their benefits if they do. I do not think that should apply in this situation though. This is one situation where I think revenue passengers should have been moved in order for a very young minor to sit with a parent. I'm not saying move for a whole family of 5, but i am saying keep the under 5 y.o.'s with the parent. I also think if that was not possible then the GA should have warned the parent ahead of time and given him/her the option of taking the next flight and work to get them seated together. I hate it when parents want to sit with their teens because they're old enough to take care of themselves, but the little ones I think deserve special consideration. What if the plane had lost pressure........who is going to see to it that a 3 year-old gets his mask on? I think some common sense is in order.