Charges dropped in alleged airplane groping

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(08-03) 14:25 PDT OAKLAND --

Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a 39-year-old Oakland man who had been accused of groping a 14-year-old girl on a flight from Atlanta, court records show.

Aboubacar Soumah had been charged in federal court in Utah with abusive sexual contact aboard a plane. On Friday, prosecutors filed court papers asking to drop the case on the grounds that "the United States does not believe that there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction at trial."

In April, Soumah was on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, where he had planned to connect to Oakland. He initially sat across the aisle from the girl but moved to a vacant seat next to her before takeoff, FBI Special Agent Daniel Dunn wrote in an affidavit.

The girl told authorities that Soumah asked her "weird" questions and touched her arm, leg and chest underneath her shirt, authorities sad.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/03/BAUB1EOA7P.DTL

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This reeks of false accusations:

...in court papers, Assistant Federal Public Defender Viviana Ramirez wrote that the girl "did not immediately report the incident, has given differing statements in her follow-up interviews and has a reputation for being less than truthful."

Grreat...I don't know her real intentions..or with my tinfoil hat was she a good ol' white girl whose heart would shudder at the sight of an Arab in an airplane? :tinfoilhat:

[tularetom]

1. I'm disappointed - I thought he groped an airplane

[Javaman]

9. I know, I was hoping to read a statement from the plane.

Something about landing gear and cockpits...

[Blue_Tires]

10. the new 777 is very grope-able

[yellowcanine]

15. Heh - my first thought was - Did someone grope an airplane? Of did the airplane grope someone?

[LostinVA]

2. Why did he change his seat?

[Tempest]

3. Where's the evidence he changed his seat?

It was written down in a report according to the article, but the source of the claim wasn't made known.

[LostinVA]

6. In the FBI affidavit

The airline also know where his assigned seat was.

[Tempest]

8. Was the FBI agent who wrote up the affidavit on the plane?

Who was the source of the information on the affidavit? It doesn't say.

[LostinVA]

12. It appears to be the girl, the airline, and witnesses

:wtf:

[uppityperson]

4. Not Arab. And another article. Sounds like an all around weird situation

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/08/BA6M1CRN3L.DTL

[beam me up scottie]

5. This actually happened to me on a Greyhound bus.

I was 19 though, and mad enough to stop him before he could grope anything of importance. After I made a scene, an elderly woman backed up my story and the bus driver pulled over in the middle of nowhere and booted the guy off the bus.

Airplanes are usually pretty crowded, there should have been witnesses if this happened.

[Merlot]

7. She's 14 years old. Her actions are not surprising nor do they reek of

false accusations. He moved from his aisle seat to a seat next to her? That alone is intimidating if she was traveling alone.

Perhaps you've never been a 14 year old girl accosted by an adult man.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. OK, this has nothing to do with whether the crime happened or not

But this sentence bugs me:

Aboubacar Soumah had been charged in federal court in Utah with abusive sexual contact aboard a plane

Do we have an entirely separate part of USC that simply restates the entire body of criminal statute and then adds the words "aboard a plane"?

If not, why would we need a separate law to prosecute what is already illegal on the ground, in a mound, or in a box with a fox?

This reminds me of the whole "Communications Decency Act" in the 90's making it illegal to solicit a child for sexual acts "via modem". Well Hell, why stop there? What about by telegraph? Or smoke signals? Let's not forget semaphore, signal flags and two cans connected by string.

Wait, wait, I forgot sign language!! Then we must be concerned about solicitation of minors by rebus, crossword puzzle, classified ad, fortune cookie, Little Orphan Annie decoder rings and Bazooka Joe comics.

[UndertheOcean]

13. I once sat next to a high school girl basketball team.

That was an uncomfortable flight. Had to cramp myself extra hard to make sure I don't elbow the young lady next to me by mistake.

(And Listening to the conversation made me want to shoot myself in the head,Teenagers are annoying).

[Steerpike]

14. well

if there were witnesses and the girl gave testimony....why not prosecute?