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#Woman groped on JFK flight says she was ‘disrespected’ by attacker’s sentence

“Woman groped on JFK flight says she was ‘disrespected’ by attacker’s sentence”

A Queens woman who was sexually molested on a flight to JFK Airport told The Post on Monday that a federal judge “disrespected” her by giving her convicted attacker a break.

The victim, 30, said US District Judge Frederic Block, 88, “invalidated” her horrifying 2018 experience by allowing convicted creep Daniel Katz to dodge any prison time last week.

“It hurts,” said the woman, who asked to be identified only as Gina. “Even though ultimately [his conviction] was still an empowering experience … and helpful for my healing journey, I think at the end of the day, I really just feel disrespected.

“My biggest reaction was after I shared my statement, the judge repeatedly referred to this as an oddball case, an oddball thing, an oddball ordeal,” she said. “And I think that speaks volumes because it’s not an oddball thing.

“It was a sexual assault and a convicted felony and you diminishing that to refer to it as an oddball thing just completely invalidates not only my experience but every other sexual assault victim,” said the woman, who works in tech services.

US District Judge Frederic Block
A molested flier says US District Judge Frederic Block “disrespected” her with his sentencing of her attacker.
Paul Martinka

Katz, 36, was found guilty of abusive sexual contact by a federal jury last year in the February 23, 2018, attack on Etihad Airways Flt. 103 — with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn asking that he be sentenced to up to 21 months behind bars.

Block, a Clinton appointee, instead sentenced Katz to one year of probation, including three months of unmonitored home confinement.

“What statement does that make to future predators?” Gina told The Post on Monday. “What statement does that make to people who are terrified to report abuse, because it is scary.”

Katz declined to comment to The Post on Sunday when he was reached at his Brooklyn home. Telephone calls to him were not returned Sunday and Monday.

Etihad Airways
A Queens woman was sexually molested while sleeping on Etihad Airways Flt. 103 headed to JFK Airport on Feb. 23, 2018.
Getty Images

According to court papers, Katz is a former volunteer at an upstate New York children’s summer camp and twice taught youngsters in South Korea.

He told investigators that his encounter with Gina was consensual and even claimed at one point that his victim was “the aggressor” in the incident.

But Gina said she was asleep on the plane when Katz assaulted her.

She said she was returning from a dream vacation in Thailand and Abu Dhabi when she was attacked in her seat and the trip turned into a nightmare.

She said flight attendants dismissed her complaints and that the airline later refused to investigate the incident — prompting her to finally call an NYPD rape hotline.

Cops referred her to the FBI, which opened an investigation that ended with the trial in Brooklyn federal court and Katz’s conviction in June 2021.

In addition to probation, Block ordered Katz to perform 75 hours of community service and required him to register as a sex offender, court records show.

Etihad Airways
A Queens woman said flight attendants dismissed her complaints.
Getty Images

But it falls far short of justice, Gina said.

“What can we do moving forward? How can this culturally be used to just do better,” she said “Unfortunately, the judge chose the side of the predator in this case.

“The incident itself is just so violating,” she said. “You feel so exposed and so vulnerable.”

“There are so many ways that you can feel invalidated in this process and for a judge then at the end of the day, sentencing is completely up to that person, to not only disrespect my experience but also the 12 people who convicted him, and say, ‘I disagree’ or whatever, ‘It’s not that bad.’ And then to give this sentence? It’s just like, wow.”

Meanwhile, Judge Block is no stranger to controversy.

He threw out a gun charge against a violent felon in 2015, telling critics of the move, “I’m at the DGS stage of life: Don’t give a s–t.”

Block also once referred to the female victims in an assault case as “no angels,” while he sentenced their attacker to no additional prison time. 

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