A man accused of groping a woman over the weekend while on a Southwest Airlines flight from Houston, Texas to Albuquerque, N.M. thought he had the perfect excuse, citing President Donald Trump’s infamous “grab ’em” moment.
According to the Washington Post, Bruce Michael Alexander, a 49-year-old Tampa, Fla. resident, told authorities that “the President of the United States says it’s ok to grab women by their private parts,” after being arrested on Sunday.
Fortunately, that’s not true, and Alexander is facing charges of abusive sexual contact, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico confirmed. If convicted, he could face up to two years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
The woman, who was identified only as C.W., said she was accosted about 15 to 20 minutes after the flight left Houston. C.W. was sleeping when “she felt her clothes move,” and felt fingers touching her from behind “on her right side and around her ‘bra line’.”
At first she thought it was an accident, but when it happened again, she confronted the man behind the hand, which she described as having hairy “thick fingers” and “dirty finger nails.”
C.W. asked to be moved and was moved to the back of the plane for the rest of the flight. Alexander was taken into custody by the FBI at Albuqueque International Sunport.
