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TSA agent helped himself to a $47,900 camera (and more!)
It's no secret that I'm not a fan of the TSA. While I fully understand the importance of keeping our planes and airports safe, I'm just not sure the TSA is up to the job. The agency is also plagued by bad PR, mainly because of incompetent staff members and insane decisions that impact us as travelers.The latest in a long lineup of bad press for the agency involves TSA screener Pythias Brown. This 48 year old resident of Maplewood, NJ was supposed to keep bad stuff off the plane, but instead, he was helping himself to valuable items from the bags of people entrusting him with their belongings.
Pythias started small, stealing cameras, laptop computers, gaming consoles and eventually moved on to the good stuff including a video camera belonging to CNN, and a $47,900 camera stored inside the bag of an HBO employee.
The items were sold on Ebay, and as you can see from his feedback listing, these were not cheap items.
His greed eventually came back to haunt him, when CNN found one of their cameras listed on Ebay. With a little help from the local police department and the USPS, Brown was apprehended.
When agents entered his house, they found 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, jewelry, lenses, GPS devices and more.
The total value of the stolen items is well over $200,000, and if you have ever lost an expensive item when flying from Newark Liberty Airport, you'll be thrilled to hear that the TSA is taking the matter "seriously". News like this just reinforces the need to keep anything of value out of your checked bags.
Of course, this also makes me wonder just how on earth a TSA agent is able to leave the sterile area of his or her local airport with a $47,900 camera hidden in their bag. We passengers get screened, so perhaps it is time to start screening TSA staff when they enter and leave the airport?
Reader Comments (Page 11 of 11)
Daniel Oct 14th 2008 1:59AM
Their official job title was changed not long ago.
Kathleen Oct 14th 2008 10:19AM
I work for the airlines, and abhor the petty yet
absolute power given to the TSA. They now have the right to film you NAKED as part of their "screening".
At what point do we put reasonable limits on this????
Roy Oct 14th 2008 6:38PM
They need to be treated like any other sensitive area (prisons, pharm factories, etc). Screen them on the way in, and if they want to bring anything in, they declare it and it is recorded (with serials). When they leave the area they are once again screened, and if they didnt declare it on the way in, it doesnt go with them back out the door. Problem solved. (unless you get multiple screeners colluding but thats another story)
nikolai Oct 14th 2008 4:07PM
Every time I fly I take along a little 5 dollar alarm clock that has one AA battery in it. (I have a cell phone with an alarm, I can set the hotel radio alarm, or I can ask the desk clerk for a wakeup call, but I like the security and comfort of having the back up of this cheap little alarm clock with me). Anyway, EVERY time I travel I insert the battery and when I get to my destination whether it be my initial destination or return trip home, one side of the battery has been pulled out (so the clock will stop, I suppose). I'm guessing that TSA thinks it is a "timer" so they pull the battery EVERY time. Guess I should start leaving the battery out!
Kim O'Mara Oct 14th 2008 5:38PM
We had our Christmas gifts stolen last year! It was a lesson learned to ship ahead! But such a feeling of being violated, and a total lack of confidence in our security system.
That Guy Oct 14th 2008 8:35PM
Roy is right, but he forgets that TSA is just security theatre, not real security. Roy's idea would have already been implemented if the whole idea of the TSA wasn't just to make morons (falsely) think that their plane is secure while giving cushy management jobs to Bush cronies.
Arthur Oct 20th 2008 6:40AM
Cut off the S.O.B.'s hands !
J.M. Rodriguez Oct 27th 2008 8:38PM
This is in reply to those who keep questioning why TSA agents are now being referred to as Officers.
As of about a year ago they became sworn Federal Officers. Take a close look at the new blue uniforms and badges. Interfering with, threatening, or assaulting a TSA Officer is a federal crime. They perform many other assignments and in many other forms of transportation you are not aware of and will never know.
Check the TSA website http://www.tsa.gov/ to read about what they did lately to insure traveler safety.
16 passengers were arrested due to suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents
24 firearms found at checkpoints 1 artfully concealed prohibited items found at checkpoints
13 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach
MAN CHARGED WITH BRINGING A BOMB ON AIRPLANE
Steven Nobles was stopped at 7:28 a.m. by Transportation Security Administration officers during a routine search when they noticed a 7-inch-long knife in his carry-on bag. Nobles was preparing to board Southwest Flight 384 to Las Vegas.
After searching Nobles' bag, the officers then noticed the bomb. The suspected pipe bomb that was found in Steven Nobles' baggage "could have functioned. It could have detonated," federal prosecutor John Durham said at Nobles' arraignment in U.S. District Court.
TSA, POLICE COOPERATION LEADS TO CAPTURE OF ALLEGED CRIMINALS
Police in Orlando, Fla., provided TSA with a photo of a suspect in a home invasion robbery and asked for assistance. Forty minutes later, TSA Behavior Detection Officer Raymond Llamas and TSO Eladio Bezares spotted Saul Pagan-Davila, 19, in the airport's food court.
TSA officers continued to observe him as they called police. Pagan-Davila was arrested and charged with home invasion, armed robbery and grand theft.
Earlier in the week, Orlando TSA officers identified a suspicious person who was attempting to smuggle a gun through security. Further investigation revealed he was a fugitive wanted in Colorado on drug charges.
"Our officers do much more than what you see at the checkpoints," said FSD Lee Kair. "We have officers all over the airport, at the curb, in the secure areas, doing random gate checks, even searching aircraft. We partner with law enforcement and members of the Central Florida intelligence community to keep travelers safe."
Read these and many more accounts of TSA successes at their website.
bo Oct 18th 2008 3:23PM
hmm hundreds of guns go missing each year from the airline checked baggage. fits right along with this story. ill bet thse guns are turned right around and sold to criminals. TSA protects us? i hope that agency is abolished and that individual security is returned to each airport.
phil magroin Oct 19th 2008 3:24PM
homeland insecurity at it's best...a big goverment joke and it's on the taxpayers.....lmao!!!!
Auurrgg Oct 27th 2008 2:48PM
Terrible.
this for "Carol" from TSA. Wake up people. Stop using 9-11 as the call to everything scary or illegal. Can ANYONE tell me who was in charge of 'security' on 9-10 ?? None other then the Presidents' brother. Marvin Bush...(Securicom and Saudi money) so give-it-a-rest. Or ask your media "why" doen't we know anything?
and Carol, you drone on that hopefully he gets jail time and 'maybe' the items can be returned.. HELLO.. jail time costs taxpayers $40k / yr, and i'm sure ALL the items were reported "lost". Are you telling us that TSA can't even connect the dots here? Sad. As Bush would say.. "Heck of a job Brown.. ie"..