SALT LAKE CITY— According to the United States Attorney’s Office, a man from Frisco, Texas, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman on a flight to Salt Lake City.
On April 18, 2023, federal authorities indicted Robert “Bobby” Sutherland MacLean, 59. He was convicted today of abusive sexual contact while on board an airplane in the United States.
According to a press statement issued by the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) District of Utah, MacLean was sitting next to a female passenger on a commercial flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City on March 1, 2022. The two were sitting in the first-class cabin on the late-night journey to Utah.
During the flight, MacLean made “calculated and sexually laced statements” to the female victim, who was completely unknown to him. According to the press statement, he sexually harassed her on many occasions during the flight.
“Mr. MacLean unlawfully and illegally imposed his will upon another person—sexually assaulting her over and over again on that late-night flight,” prosecuting attorney Bryan N. Reeves of the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
A federal jury in Salt Lake City found MacLean guilty after his accusation was brought to trial. His sentence is scheduled for October 1, 2025, in the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. District Courthouse in Salt Lake City. Dale A. Kimball, a senior U.S. District Court judge, will decide his sentencing.
According to the USAO’s press release, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Salt Lake City Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the Salt Lake City Police Department.
