In 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigations alleged that an inebriated US Marine officer sexually molested a student from Japan during a ten-hour American Airlines journey. At the time, they were traveling from Tokyo city to LA. As per FBI Officer Dana Murphy, Zachary Kahl deliberately made a sexual encounter without consent with the student and thus violated federal law.
The student, identified as Y.U., was going to LA to visit a friend here, and she planned on visiting the Grand Canyon as part of her five-day vacation. Back then, as per FBI Agent Murphy, Kahl hugged and kissed Y.U. and fondled her sexual organs.
A resident of Ohio, Kahl was traveling from Japan to get to the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina’s Jacksonville city. After he posted a bond worth $20,000, Kahl was temporarily allowed to reside in San Diego County’s Camp Pendleton base camp.
As per the Federal Bureau of Investigations complaint, a flight staffer and many passengers saw Kahl aggressively pursuing Y.U. even after she told the officer to stop. Following a post-arrest interview, Murphy said that Kahl did not feel that Y.U. appeared mad or upset about the encounter. However, Kahl admitted that she perhaps requested him not to do so and that he wished to apologize to her for his behavior.
As per an American passenger, Kahl told Y.U. that he wished to learn everything regarding her. The passenger also observed the woman appearing to pretend to understand him in a bid to appear polite despite a barrier to verbal communication between them.
A different passenger saw her laughing with him but regarded it as a cultural attempt to appear polite rather than an expression of merriment. Nevertheless, the incident made the staff concerned enough to move Y.U. to another seat almost midway through the flight. In the early phases of that flight, Kahl had alcohol after he drank whiskey and beer at the Tokyo airport, whereas Y.U. consumed apple juice.
The victim told the Federal Bureau of Investigations that she was afraid after the Marine officer showed her the photographs of him training in his military clothing. The officer stated that he assumed that Y.U. was fine with his behavior and that it was not his intention to become aggressive.
Later, he was apprehended at the Los Angeles International Airport, as he had abusive sexual conduct history related to the US’s special aircraft jurisdiction.