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Sex Offender From Monsey Admits Groping Woman On Flight

MONSEY, N.Y. -- A registered sex offender from Rockland County admitted Wednesday that he repeatedly fondled a woman on a flight from Israel to Newark, federal authorities said.

Joel Oberlander

Joel Oberlander

Photo Credit: NY State Department of Corrections

Yoel Oberlander, 36, of Monsey pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to assault with the intent to stalk, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick said.

Oberlander was sitting next to the victim and her mother on a May 29 El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty International Airport, Fitzpatrick said.

During the flight, he admitted Wednesday, he "touched [the victim] in the area of her chest, upper thigh, and hand without her consent, and that he did so with the intent to harass and intimidate her," Fitzpatrick said.

Records show Oberlander pleaded guilty in New York in 2002 to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl. He was sentenced to six months probation and moved to Monsey in 2005, records show.

Oberlander also was arrested on trespassing charges in 2012 after police said he entered a boys' dormitory at a Catskills sleep-away camp for Orthodox boys 13 and 14 years old.

Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI, along with Port Authority police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melissa M. Wangenheim and Joyce M. Malliet of Fitzpatrick's Criminal Division in Newark are handling the case.

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