DENVER -- An airline passenger exposed himself to a woman sitting next to him and masturbated underneath a blanket while flying from Philadelphia to Denver on Monday, officials said.

Murali Krishna Nookella was arrested when the Southwest flight landed at Denver International Airport, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. He is accused of making "an obscene and indecent exposure of his person" while on an aircraft.

During the flight, a female passenger told a flight attendant that the man seated next to her "was masturbating and that she saw his penis," according to the criminal complaint. Nookella was relocated to a different seat, and the plane's captain called police to meet the aircraft upon its arrival in Denver.

An FBI agent interviewed the female passenger after the plane landed. She said she was traveling alone and sitting in a middle seat when a man in the window seat began asking "a lot of questions," according to the complaint. The woman said she took out her laptop, put on headphones and looked at e-mail. She said Nookella leaned over her shoulder to look at her e-mails but leaned back again in his seat when she looked at him as if to say, "What are you doing?"

Nookella had a blanket pulled up to his waist, and the woman said his "eyes were closed as his hands moved all around his groin area underneath his blanket," the complaint says. The woman said she "thought the situation was weird" and began to gather her belongings to change seats.

The woman "looked at Nookella and saw him holding his erect penis," the complaint says.

"You caught me," Nookella said to the woman, according to the complaint. He held a napkin in his left hand.

The woman got up to leave, but Nookella said he would go and move to the back, the complaint says.

The woman said she did not know Nookella prior to the flight and "did not give him permission to expose his penis to her," the complaint says. "She thought he was self-gratifying himself."

If convicted of the offense, Nookella could face no more than 90 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

He was released Tuesday after posting a $5,000 unsecured bond. He has been ordered not to fly.

Click here to read the Criminal Complaint.