After sexually abusing two minors on planes to Seattle, a former Army veteran received a one-year prison sentence.
In court records, it is stated that James Benecke, a 42-year-old former chief warrant officer, groped two girls, ages 16 and 18, on separate flights to Seattle two months apart.
Benecke entered a guilty plea to abusive sexual contact while traveling on an aircraft in April 2024, following his indictment in July 2023.
Benecke touched the 16-year-old’s buttocks in April 2023 as she was seated next to him on the plane.
During a journey from Dallas to Seattle in June 2023, Benecke made physical contact with the 18-year-old sitting next to him, touching his inner thigh and buttocks. Court records state that the victim’s boyfriend saw the attack as well and told other crew members about it.
When the plane landed in Seattle, Benecke was questioned by police. About a month later, he was taken into custody at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.
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Benecke acknowledged in the plea deal that he purposefully caused both occurrences “for his sexual arousal.”
This is occurring in the midst of an increase in nationwide sexual attacks on aircraft. The FBI reports that there was a 25% rise in investigations into sexual misbehavior on airplanes between 2019 and 2021. There were 27 investigations into sexual misconduct in 2018. That figure increased to 90 investigations in 2022 and 96 investigations in 2023.
The majority of these cases, according to the FBI, are committed by men against women, unaccompanied adolescents, and people who take medication or drink alcohol to unwind during a flight.
