A Long Island man has been sentenced to six months in federal prison after sexually assaulting a fellow passenger aboard a Delta Air Lines flight, bringing a close to a case that has left a lasting impact on the victim.
Uriel Kaykov, 36, of Great Neck, New York, was sentenced on Monday by a federal judge in Brooklyn for groping a 26-year-old woman while she slept during Delta Flight 2257 from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York’s JFK Airport on June 15, 2022.
According to prosecutors, the victim was seated in a window seat on the overnight flight after attending a youth ministry retreat in Phoenix. Kaykov reportedly switched seats with his cousin in order to sit beside her in the middle seat. During the flight, the woman fell asleep and later awoke feeling uncomfortable. After briefly returning to sleep, she woke again to find Kaykov allegedly rubbing her genital area over her clothing.
The victim immediately alerted a flight attendant, who moved her to another seat, assisted her with her belongings, and informed the flight crew. Upon arrival at JFK Airport, law enforcement officers met the aircraft and questioned Kaykov. He denied the allegations, claiming he had been asleep for much of the flight.
The case moved slowly through the federal court system. Kaykov was indicted in December 2024 on a charge of abusive sexual conduct on an aircraft. Just days before his scheduled trial, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.
In a powerful victim impact statement, the woman described how the incident continues to affect her years later.
“For years, I have had regular nightmares reliving that moment. I wake up feeling panicked, as if it is happening all over again. Sleep, which should be a place of rest, has often become another place where I am forced to revisit the trauma.”
She added that the assault changed the way she experiences the world and has caused years of anxiety, fear, emotional pain, and disrupted sleep.
“I grieve the version of me that existed before that flight,” she wrote. “The assault was not just a single act in time. It has altered the way I experience the world. No one should have to carry this.”
Kaykov is scheduled to begin serving his six-month prison sentence by October 5.
