Six-year sentence handed down for abusive contact on flight to Orlando

U.S. District Judge Paul Byron sentenced John Daniel Fowler, 65, of Indianapolis, to six years in federal prison for abusive sexual contact committed aboard a commercial airline. The sentence, announced in a Department of Justice press release Monday, also includes a term of 15 years of supervised release after Fowler’s prison term ends.

Fowler was found guilty by a federal jury on Jan. 13. The conviction stemmed from an incident on a flight from Indianapolis to Orlando, where Fowler was seated next to a child passenger.

According to testimony presented at trial, Fowler observed the minor taking a photograph out of the aircraft window with a cellphone and asked the child to send him the image, providing his own phone number. The prosecution detailed a series of escalating assaults: Fowler repeatedly placed his hand over the armrest, touching the minor, who pushed his hand away each time. After the child fell asleep, Fowler allegedly slipped his hand under the blanket and touched the girl’s genitalia. The victim awoke as the plane was landing in Orlando, still being groped. She reported the conduct to the flight crew immediately, who separated her from Fowler and alerted law enforcement.

Fowler, a registered sex offender, had previously been convicted in Indiana for sexual battery and criminal confinement in 2017. In that case, an adult victim testified that Fowler had licked her genitalia while she was asleep. Prosecutors used that testimony to illustrate a pattern of predatory behavior.

The commercial airline case investigation was conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Air Marshal Service, and the Orlando Police Department.