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Man, 67, accused of sexually assaulting teen on flight from LAX

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A 67-year-old man flying from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City earlier this week has been charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl mid-flight, according to federal court filings.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors charged Hans Loudermilk with sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl who was sitting next to him during a Delta Airlines flight Tuesday.

According to the complaint, Loudermilk struck up a conversation with the girl soon after she boarded the plane at Los Angeles International Airport. Prosecutors say Loudermilk asked the girl to sit in the middle seat and he took the aisle.

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Once they were in the air, the two began chatting and Loudermilk steered the conversation toward sex.

About half an hour before the plane was set to land, “Loudermilk explained…that he could teach her things sexually that boys her age could not,” the complaint reads. “Loudermilk continued to state that she should drive with him and that in the state of Utah, he could marry her at her current age.”

He then touched the girl on the chin and started rubbing her leg and upper thigh, prosecutors allege.

Once off the plane, the teenager complained to a Transportation Security Administration agent prompting Loudermilk to rush into a gift shop, where he changed out of his shirt and into a jacket to avoid being recognized, prosecutors allege.

Authorities arrested him at the scene. Loudermilk appeared in a federal court in Utah Thursday and is scheduled to be arraigned April 10.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

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Twitter: @josephserna

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