A Delta Air Lines pilot who was arrested on a plane after a flight last weekend was charged on Tuesday with 24 felony counts in connection with the sexual abuse of a child, the authorities in Northern California said. A woman was also charged in a related felony complaint, they said.
Rustom Bhagwagar, 34, was arrested on Saturday night in the cockpit of a plane that he had just helped land at San Francisco International Airport. In front of the crew and passengers, a group of about 10 officers quickly boarded the aircraft, handcuffed Mr. Bhagwagar and escorted him off the plane, witnesses said.
Jennifer Powell, 45, was also charged with 24 counts in a related felony complaint, the district attorney’s office in Contra Costa County, Calif., said on Tuesday.
The charges against Mr. Bhagwagar include engaging in sexual acts with a child under the age of 10, aggravated sexual assault of a child, forcible lewd acts upon a child and oral copulation with a child, the district attorney’s office said.
The abuse occurred in Contra Costa County, the district attorney’s office said. Mr. Bhagwagar is being held at the Martinez Detention Facility on a $15 million bond. Ms. Powell is also being held at the Martinez Detention Facility.
Mr. Bhagwagar is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday in Martinez, Calif. The charges in both complaints carry terms of 15 years to life in state prison.
“Our office stands firmly committed to protecting children and holding those who cause harm accountable,” Diana Becton, the Contra Costa County district attorney, said in a statement. “Every child deserves to feel safe, protected and heard when an injustice like this occurs.”
Detectives with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office had been investigating Mr. Bhagwagar since April, the department said.
After obtaining a warrant, sheriff’s officers, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, arrested him aboard Delta Flight 2809 just after it landed at about 9:35 p.m. on a trip from Minneapolis.
A passenger on the plane told The San Francisco Chronicle that several people with “badges, guns and different agency vests/markings” had made their way up the aisle and into the cockpit, where they put one of the pilots in handcuffs and escorted him off the plane.
The aviation blog View From the Wing published a short video showing several people with visible badges walking out of the plane’s cockpit.
In an emailed statement, Delta said it was “appalled by reports of the charges related to the arrest” and added that the pilot had been suspended pending an investigation. “Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful conduct,” it said.
Adeel Hassan, a New York-based reporter for The Times, covers breaking news and other topics.
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