Police arrest two people after plane passenger catches man texting about sexually assaulting a child
Woman reportedly spotted fellow passenger typing in large font on a large smartphone
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Your support makes all the difference.A woman who spotted a fellow plane passenger texting about sexually assaulting children has led police to arrest two people and rescue two potential victims, according to authorities.
Michael Kellar was arrested after arriving in Mineta San Jose International Airport airport on a flight from Seattle on Monday night, police said.
Officers also arrested 50-year-old Gail Burworth at her home in Tacoma, Washington.
It appears that two children, aged five and seven, were at risk of being sexually assaulted, according to investigators.
The plane passenger who reported 56-year-old Kellar told authorities she alerted a flight attendant after seeing a man sitting in front of her texting about child abuse.
She said he was texting in a large font, on a large smartphone.
The woman took photos of the texts with her own phone, to show the flight crew, according to Mercury News. Flight attendants then contacted officers on the ground.
Mercury News reports that, on arrest, the man "reportedly dismissed his text messages as nothing more than fantasy and role playing".
Kellar is now being held in jail on two counts of attempted child molestation and two counts of solicitation of a sex crime. Burnworth faces charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, rape of a child, and dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.