Linden Man Admits Groping Woman Seated Next To Him On Cross-Country Flight

LINDEN, NJ — A Linden man admitted in U.S. federal court to making unwanted sexual advances to a woman on an airplane flight from L.A. to Philadelphia.

Vernon Baker, 41, of Linden, entered a plea of guilty on Dec. 3 before federal judge Judge Anita Brody to one count of abusive sexual contact on an aircraft. He will be sentenced on March 3 and faces a maximum possible three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Prosecutors say that on October 30, 2024, while aboard a commercial flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, Baker made sexual advances towards a woman seated next to him; the two did not know each other.

After the woman refused his advances, Baker took out his penis and forcibly tried to get the woman to touch him. He then grabbed her breast over her clothing and untied her pants, said prosecutors. Traumatized and shaken, the woman rushed to the back of the cabin, where she reported the sex assault to flight attendants.

The FBI investigated this case.