JFK TSA Agent Allegedly Steals Teen's $100 Gift From Grandma

via

If you can't cop a feel, you may as well steal. Back in February, two TSA agents at JFK airport were busted for stealing $160,000 in cash from various travelers, including one $39,000 heist. Now it seems that TSA agents have found a more subtle score: stealing $100 that was a gift to a 16-year-old honor student from his grandmother. The boy's mother tells the Post that the theft was "disgusting and a violation of my son's trust." Maybe, but will this be a wakeup call to America's grannies to stop sending cash? Write a check, your handwriting is gorgeous!

A source with the Port Authority police tells the paper that the incident was caught on surveillance video at 5:15 a.m., as the family boarded a flight on July 21. A female TSA employees spends 6 minutes with the boy's bag, and "can be seen tossing away a piece of paper" that appears to be the money. Later that same day, a TSA screener was nabbed for stealing a senior citizen's cellphone. That agent was arrested and fired as part of the agency's "zero tolerance policy for theft," but the agent who swiped the $100 is still under job as the incident is "under investigation." Moral of the story: if you want to get on your flight without incurring questions/pat-downs/thefts, just use an old boarding pass and lie about your identity.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Christopher Robbins in News on August 1, 2011 2:24 PM

Comments [rss]

CurmudgeonNYC

The TSA workers I see are about one tiny rung above your average subway janitor, mcdonalds employee, or customer service representative...in other words, brain dead morons.

Miles Bader

The odd thing is that the equivalent jobs in other countries seem to be staffed with a much higher grade of employee.

It makes one wonder: does the U.S. pay much less for such positions (why?), or does the U.S. simply have more morons...?

José Muñiz

I haven't written a check in about ten years.

Scott Cockandtailtime

Can I just go through security in a speedo, with my cash and ID in a ziplock bag?

Kate

I doubt it:
http://gothamist.com/2011/07/2...

Jabberwiki

This is why we can't have nice things. Er...I mean travel with nice things.

diablofreak

keep ur money in wallets.

Roger_the_Shrubber

Abolish this band of crooks, thugs and perverts. Hire private firms using Israeli security methods.

We'll be safer, freer and save a boatload of money.

Matt F.

Bingo. Profiling WORKS.

I mean, do you honestly think a woman in a wheelchair who is on death's door with a dirty diaper is a potential hijacker? For fuck's sake, it just shows completely government beaucracy.

The best people to deal with terrorists are the ones who have first hand knowledge - hire the people coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan to be screeners.

Sulayman

Profiling doesn't work. Ask the NYPD. Ask Israel; they caught a pregnant Irish woman named Anne Murphy who had a bomb smuggled in her bag. Her terrorist boyfriend put it there and sent her on her way. If you let "a woman in a wheelchair who is on death's door" through with no check, then terrorists know who to plant bombs on. All screened or no screened.

S.D.

Except that the Israeli's don't profile as much as use behavioral analysis of Everyone.

nicemarmot

Yep. And that would require hiring smart, well-trained people to work in our airports. Which would require paying them a good salary, which is why it'll never happen. Besides, we're not actually trying to protect people at the airports. The whole point of the TSA is to make stupid people feel better, and you can do that paying as little as possible.