A 48-year old Frenchman flying SWISS from Zurich to Miami on April 28 is accused of abusive sexual contact – touching another passenger’s lower back in a way designed to look accidental while she was sleeping, repeating it longer to test whether she woke, and then using a “submarine” hand motion apparently trying to get under her clothing or between her legs.
The man and 29-year old woman are said to have been traveling in first class on Swiss flight 64. This surprises me. The seats don’t seem open enough or close enough to facilitate the kind of contact being described, and often even a charging document might mix up business and first class (or even premium economy, since that’s like domestic first).
The two had briefly exchanged pleasantries at the start of the flight, according to the complaint, then she turned away, curled up and went to sleep. She wouldn’t need to curl up in first!
- A flight attendant, alerted by other passengers, approached and apparently saw the man’s hand on the woman’s crotch over her jeans, making what was described as a scooping or rubbing motion. He was questioned and since he couldn’t provide indication to show he knew the woman (it still wouldn’t have been appropriate in the cabin) he was moved to coach to separate them.
- When she was woken up and told what had happened, she confirmed she didn’t know him and began shaking and crying.
- Later, the man was brought back into the cabin to collect his belongings and he allegedly tried to pass the woman a note reading, “You look beautiful when you are sleeping.” When he was interviewed by law enforcement he still had the note on his business card that said she looked cute while asleep. He’d already been called out, did he think she was going to swoon over this?
- On arrival, after clearing immigration, investigators taped an interview with him. He reportedly declined assistance from the French consulate, said nothing happened, but after being told there were eyewitnesses and video evidence he admitted touching the woman and said he “did not think it was such a big deal.”
When told witnesses saw contact with her genital area, the report says he explained that he touched “whatever he could reach from across the armrest” and admitted taking photos with his phone – but deleted them before law enforcement could inspect them. (I would expect that his phone would have been taken for forensic examination.)
His pretrial detention hearing was scheduled for today. Prosecutors argue that he’s a flight risk and danger to the community and do not want him relesaed. He’s charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2244 which covers knowing sexual contact without permission in federal jurisdiction, including intentional touching, directly or through clothing, of genitalia, groin, buttocks, inner thigh, breast, etc.
Since this occurred on an international flight to Miami, it’s covered by 49 U.S.C. § 46506, applies the law to acts on aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States (including foreign aircraft outside the U.S. whose destination or original is in the U.S.).
48-year-old French national Guillaume Sebastien Roger Mattler has been charged with sexually assaulting a sleeping 29-year-old woman on a Swiss International Air Lines flight to Miami,
he allegedly slipped his fingers beneath her clothing and made a scooping or "submarine"… pic.twitter.com/XdcLfAgDbG
— G R I F T Y (@GriftReport) May 4, 2026
It seems colloquially that he might just plead to being French? Because, really, the facts don’t look good for the defense here. There are multiple eyewitnesses, a passenger reportedly taking videos, a flight attendant apparently seeing his hand on the woman’s crotch over jeans, and a note saying she looked cute while sleeping (creepy) plus his post-flight admissions, and deleted photos.
So his lawyer is probably just looking to suppress some of the admissions, force the government to prove the exact nature of contact, and hope for a decent plea deal I guess. (He was plausibly in ‘custody’ when he was interviewed after immigration processing, may not have been properly Mirandized, and can claim that being French he may not have fully understood the questions and wasn’t clearly waiving his rights.)
This man seems to be among the creepiest passengers ever, though we’ve seen this kind of behavior behavior before. What is truly unique here is the degree of difficulty, if the passengers really were seated in the Swiss Boeing 777-300ER first class cabin. There’s just no subtle way to do what he was trying to do, angling over the seats. Most of the time this happens it happens in coach.
If he was American he could claim DJT set a precedent and became president so he was just building his resume.
@Ray — Fair is fair… *deep sigh*
TDS Ray needs to see shrink and get the help he needs.
Clearly, they were in Swiss SENSES and in seats D and E. Otherwise, he would be reaching across an aisle.
The French are an odd folk: half of them are the nicest human beings anywhere and half are insufferable jerks.
@Ray – You should pay attention to what wesley says. Only when a Dem is in office are you allowed to take cheap shots at POTUS.
@Christian — Zut alors!
@1990 – Désolé, mais je ne parle pas français.
When criminal illegal immigrants commit sexual, assault. The liberal left demand they be released, not deported.
The Swiss creeper should just say he’s an illegal and democrats will ride to his rescue. .
To be clear, if the flight number and date are right, this was on their B777. I have not be on it, but F is 1-2-1 and their is a movable panel that extends quite high between the two middle seats. J is alternating 1-2-2 and 2-2-1, so I’m guessing they were in one of the 2 groups. There is a larger J cabin past door 2, but only 2 rows in front of 2 (behind F). I’m guessing that might be the location. Anyway, search Swiss B777 first class, Swiss B777 business class, and go to Aerolopa to get the layout if interested.
More importantly, what a creep.
If I’m paying for J, why would I opt for an airline where 4 out of 5 J seats are pairs? From a comfort perspective a lot of solo travelers get a stranger as a seatmate. And 40% of J is a case where you are blocked from the aisle or are a blocker. Clearly, safety is more important than comfort, and it is not my intent to diminish the woman’s shameful treatment in my rant against inferior design.
Ray is bros with Swalwell and Weiner.
@Christian — Magnifique! Superbe!
@This comes to mind — 1-2-1 (or 1-1-1, if possible) in J/F is far superior to 2-2-2, or 2-3-2, etc., even if traveling as a couple. P2 and I prefer windows, so we’ll go separate rows, if needed.
@Deport all illegals — No one, liberals included, want violent criminals, citizens or otherwise, in their communities. As a candidate, the President promised to deport “the worst of the worst.” And yet, the majority of people (70%) detained by ICE have no criminal convictions. So, either your definition of ‘illegal’ is merely ‘brown people,’ or there’s a deep disconnect between rhetoric and reality.
@Coffee Please — And, are you ‘bros’ with all the Republicans deviants over the years, too? You forgot Tony Gonzales who resigned along Swalwell, after Gonzales was accused of sending explicit texts to a now-deceased former aide and coercing her into a sexual relationship. And the President, literally found liable for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll in a civil court. C’mon. Is former Speaker Dennis Hastert ya boi, too? And, if you fly through MSP, say hello to Larry Craig. Maybe party affiliation isn’t the issue; rather, it’s those specific individuals convicted of crimes involving sexual predation, and those credibly accused of sexual misconduct, that is at issue.
Somehow @1990 has to get into deportations. TDS is the new retardation. And I’m no fan of Trump. Like anyone with a brain I despise both parties. I’m sure Frenchie must have called DJT and asked if it was ok to be creepy on a flight.
He was sloppy drunk, and that’s it.. Now he is in big trouble, much more than he would have been in France, I think… People around him would have probably reacted, asking him /forcing him to stop without the intervention of a flight attendant or of the police!
Well… of course, I am French…
What is horrifying is watching the above banter when this is real and it happened to a woman, It happened to me while on a flight that originated in the middle east years ago when doors were not integrated across all airlines, and crew confirmed that it was not uncommon. There is absolutely no excuse regardless of where you were born and raised the fact that adults are trying to politicise what is a traumatizing event for a women is disgusting across so many levels.
@SE I also think it’s ridiculous. Bit somehow, the current political environment in the United States allows people to be crude and dishonest, like “@Deport all illegals” who seems to believe everything on cable news and is at a minimum a disgraceful example of a human.
He is an airline technician that builds these exact interiors for planes for AMAC Swlss Airlines and goes by the names Matters Guillaume, and Guillaume Alves. Found him under these aliases on Linkedin and Facebook. So that might be how he is able to maneuver through these seats like nobody else usually can.