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Officer Reveals Secrets of Thefts at Airports
EMCS
Member Posts: 4,063
Convicted TSA Officer Reveals Secrets of Thefts at Airports
By MEGAN CHUCHMACH (@megcourtney) , RANDY KREIDER and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)
Sept. 28, 2012
A convicted TSA security officer says he was part of a "culture" of indifference that allowed corrupt employees to prey on passengers' luggage and personal belongings with impunity, thanks to lax oversight and tip-offs from TSA colleagues.
"It was very commonplace, very," said Pythias Brown, a former TSA officer at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey who admits he stole more than $800,000 worth of items from luggage and security checkpoints over a four-year period.
"It was very convenient to steal," he said.
Speaking publicly for the first time after being released from prison, Brown told ABC News his four-year-long crime spree came to an end only because he tried to sell a camera he stole from the luggage of a CNN producer on E-bay but forgot to remove all of the news networks' identifying stickers.
"It became so easy, I got complacent," Brown said.
Brown is one of almost 400 TSA officers who have been fired for stealing from passengers in the past decade. According to the TSA, 381 TSA officers have been fired for theft between 2003 and 2012, including 11 so far in this year.
In a statement to ABC News, the agency said it has "a zero-tolerance policy for theft and terminates any employee who is determined to have stolen from a passenger."
The agency disputes that theft is a widespread problem, however, saying the number of officers fired "represents less than one-half of one percent of officers that have been employed" by TSA.
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"It was so easy," said Brown, "I walked right out of the checkpoint with a Nintendo Wii in my hand. Nobody said a word."
He said he soon learned how to read the X-ray scans to find the most valuable items to steal.
"I could tell whether it was cameras or laptops or portable cameras or whatever kind of electronic was in the bag," Brown said.
At the time of his arrest, Brown was offering for sale some 80 cameras, video games and computers on his personal eBay page.
Read @ page 1 of 2
http://tiny.cc/7j4clw
By MEGAN CHUCHMACH (@megcourtney) , RANDY KREIDER and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross)
Sept. 28, 2012
A convicted TSA security officer says he was part of a "culture" of indifference that allowed corrupt employees to prey on passengers' luggage and personal belongings with impunity, thanks to lax oversight and tip-offs from TSA colleagues.
"It was very commonplace, very," said Pythias Brown, a former TSA officer at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey who admits he stole more than $800,000 worth of items from luggage and security checkpoints over a four-year period.
"It was very convenient to steal," he said.
Speaking publicly for the first time after being released from prison, Brown told ABC News his four-year-long crime spree came to an end only because he tried to sell a camera he stole from the luggage of a CNN producer on E-bay but forgot to remove all of the news networks' identifying stickers.
"It became so easy, I got complacent," Brown said.
Brown is one of almost 400 TSA officers who have been fired for stealing from passengers in the past decade. According to the TSA, 381 TSA officers have been fired for theft between 2003 and 2012, including 11 so far in this year.
In a statement to ABC News, the agency said it has "a zero-tolerance policy for theft and terminates any employee who is determined to have stolen from a passenger."
The agency disputes that theft is a widespread problem, however, saying the number of officers fired "represents less than one-half of one percent of officers that have been employed" by TSA.
Skip down
"It was so easy," said Brown, "I walked right out of the checkpoint with a Nintendo Wii in my hand. Nobody said a word."
He said he soon learned how to read the X-ray scans to find the most valuable items to steal.
"I could tell whether it was cameras or laptops or portable cameras or whatever kind of electronic was in the bag," Brown said.
At the time of his arrest, Brown was offering for sale some 80 cameras, video games and computers on his personal eBay page.
Read @ page 1 of 2
http://tiny.cc/7j4clw
Comments
Recently flew and they missed the pocket knife I had in my carry on. Forgot all about it till I was home and unpacked.
You'd think I'd learn, but I feel like I want SOMETHING when I'm in the Dominican Republic.
And it always happens on the way back, so I think it's them and not our TSA jerks.
...at Newark Liberty International Airport in New JerseyWell there's a big part of your problem right there. [:D]
One TSA (former) employee stated they watched the scanner and marked the spot on luggage with crayons and another "handler" down the line cut the suitcase, removed items wanted, and changed the destination tag on the luggage. Luggage would then be routed to some lone airport and unclaimed, then sold as unclaimed luggage.
Items from "lost luggage" is sold at a large store in Scottsboro, Ala. Been there and bought a camera.
Google Unclaimed Baggage Center.
This is what happens when there is absolutely no accountability to the people. If a business functioned the way the Feds function they would go out of business very quickly. The beaurocracy has grown so large it is not possible to hold it accountable. This should be outrageous, but it will be ignored by the majority of the population. Our Country is so screwed[V]
Great that they're fired for stealing. How about PROSECUTED?
that would be stereotyping and racism