Drunk ex-Marine on a flight to Tri-Cities assaults woman seated next to him
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- WA man sentenced for assaulting woman on flight to Pasco.
- A charge of threat to commit sexual abuse on an aircraft was dismissed.
- Court ordered substance abuse treatment; prior DUI arrest noted in record.
A Washington man has been sentenced to five years probation and required to pay $5,000 restitution to a woman he assaulted on a flight to the Tri-Cities airport.
The sentence imposed by U.S. Judge Mary Dimke in Richland federal court on Thursday was recommended under an agreement between the attorney for Ronald Lee Van Note II and the Eastern Washington U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Van Note, 56, pleaded guilty to simple assault on an aircraft, a misdemeanor, and a second charge of threat to commit sexual abuse on an aircraft was dismissed.
On May 18, 2024, he was aboard an Allegiant Air flight from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport to the Pasco airport when he repeatedly touched a woman who was seated next to him.
He had began drinking alcohol in the morning and continued at the airport as he waited for his flight and also drank on the flight, according to a court document.
The woman reported that he forcibly placed his arm around her, interlocked arms with her and pinned her leg with his leg, preventing her from getting out of her seat.
Van Note told her in vulgar language that he wanted to take her to the bathroom to have sex, according to court documents.
She pulled away or attempted to pull away each time he touched her.
About 35 minutes before the plane landed in the Tri-Cities, she was able to get out of her seat and run to the rear of the plane, though she injured her knee.
She reported Van Note to flight attendants and to law enforcement, who contacted him when he got off the plane in Pasco.
Van Note later pleaded guilty to “willfully and intentionally touching and making physical contact with her without justification or excuse ...”
In 2018, he was arrested in Arizona for driving under the influence and was ordered to complete substance abuse treatment.
“Yet six years later, defendant abused alcohol to the degree that he did not recall the victim’s appearance despite making aggressive sexual overtures to her and physically assaulting her for the vast majority of a flight,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurel Holland in a court document.
Dimke ordered him to again participate in a substance abuse treatment program as part of his sentence.
His attorney, Nick Mirr of Yakima, said in court documents that Van Note served in the Marines for about a decade, and after his discharge he used the training he had received in the military to continue to work as an X-ray technician for about 20 years, before a military injury forced his retirement.
He has been diagnosed with PTSD, according to Mirr.
He said Van Note has been sober since September 2024 and “recognizes that he has committed a grievous mistake — that his actions towards (the victim) were wrongheaded and that she has suffered as a result of his poor choices.”