San Diego man convicted of sexually assaulting girl during flight

A San Diego man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl while the two were passengers on a cross-country flight was sentenced Monday to two years in prison.

Ryan Coffey admitted in a plea agreement that he gave the teen rum and inappropriately touched the girl on a Jan. 7, 2023 American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C., to San Diego.

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum that another passenger on the plane heard the girl tell Coffey — who was 31 years old at the time — that she was a minor.

“When he learned that she had a fear of flying, he took a bottle of alcohol from his bag and said it would help her relax,” prosecutors wrote. The girl later reported the abuse to a friend.

Coffey pleaded guilty earlier this year to abusing sexual contact with a minor on an airplane.