An Atlanta nephrologist was charged with abusive sexual contact aboard an aircraft after he inappropriately groped a woman on a Delta flight.

Jake Namjik Cho was riding on Delta Airlines Flight 2138 in March when a female passenger reported to Portland police that Cho began having spasms when the plane hit some turbulence. While Cho claims he only grabbed the woman’s thigh, the passenger said the Georgia doctor grabbed her crotch and touched through her pants. When the woman said “Excuse me,” Cho allegedly leaned back into his seat and pretended to sleep the rest of the flight.

According to her report, the woman also accused Cho of deliberately putting his feet on hers while traveling before grabbing her crotch.

In a voluntary interview with Portland police, Cho denied touching the female passenger. He also denies the woman ever saying “excuse me” to him. However, according to The New York Post, he later refuted these claims saying he did touch the passenger but not in a sexual manner.

“At some point, I saw her and reached out and grabbed her right upper thigh with my left hand. I intended to only squeeze her upper right thigh and never intended to touch her crotch,” he wrote in a signed statement of his recollections. He added, “Because my glasses were off and it was dark, my hand slipped from her upper thigh to her crotch.”

Cho was headed to Portland to propose to his girlfriend when the incident occurred. In his police interview, he said his poor eyesight caused him to grab the woman’s thigh. After the incident, the doctor said he attempted to go back to sleep because he was “embarrassed and didn’t know what to do.”

Other Incidents Of In-Flight Misconduct

This isn’t the first time a Delta passenger has been accused of groping someone while flying. In June 2022, a California man was accused of groping an underage girl and then groping another woman who intervened. Although he blamed taking Ambien for his actions, the passenger was charged with committing a crime aboard an aircraft in flight, and abusive sexual contact involving young children, according to Complex. Following the incident, Delta released a statement.

“Delta continues to cooperate with law enforcement in this matter,” said a Delta spokesperson. “We have zero tolerance for this type of alleged behavior on our flights and at our airports and the charged individual is no longer welcome to fly Delta.”