A TSA screener at Newark Liberty International Airport can expect some invasive searches of his own if he's convicted on charges of stealing electronics from passengers' luggage.
For months, Pythias Brown, of Maplewood, NJ, had been regularly pilfering expensive electronics from the baggage he was responsible for screening at airport checkpoints --- and then selling the goods on eBay --- federal authorities said.
Brown's scheme finally caught the attention of authorities after a $47,900 camera belonging to an HBO crew, and a camcorder from a CNN employee, were reported missing and then spotted on eBay in an account linked to Brown's fiancee.
This prompted an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General office, including a raid of Brown's home in early October. During that raid, 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell phones, 17 sets of electronic
games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS devices, 11 MP3 players, eight
camera lenses, six video cameras and two DVD players were discovered, the affidavit
said.
The 48-year-old screener, who had worked as a screener at Newark Liberty since 2002, is charged with theft and faces 10 years in federal prison if convicted. He has been placed on administrative leave by TSA, and is likely to be fired.
"The TSA takes these matters of theft and any wrongdoing very
seriously, and takes a hard line against those offenders," spokeswoman
Lara Uselding said. In the past, TSA screeners have been fired for pocketing as little as a dollar in loose change, even as the agency collects hundreds of thousands of dollars in left-behind quarters, nickels and pennies at checkpoints.
"Since May 1, 2003, less than [sic] 500 officers have been terminated for
theft, which represents less than 1/2 of one percent of all officers," said blogger "Bob" in a posting on the official TSA Evolution of Security website.
Brown's actions were not entirely untrustworthy. He did garner 203 buyer feedback comments on eBay in the last year, and all were positive!
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TSA: Missing Luggage Totals $31 Million Over Three Years
More from the Newark Star-Ledger on the story.
