Recently-released CCTV footage shows two Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents in the US allegedly rummaging through passengers’ bags to steal money and other valuables.
Josue Gonzalez, 20, and Labarrius Williams, 33, were arrested in July for stealing from airport passengers, NBC News reported. The thefts took place at Florida’s Miami International Airport in June.
The TSA agents would go through travellers’ luggage while the travellers themselves waited in queue at the security checkpoint. They would take money from wallets and purses while the travellers were distracted by security checks and waiting for their bags to pass through the X-ray machine.
Surveillance footage shows one of the TSA agents sneakily extracting something from a bag kept in a tray at the security checkpoint and pocketing it. He appears to do the same with several other bags under the pretext of straightening or adjusting them.
Gonzalez and Williams were arrested along with their colleague, Elizabeth Fuster, 22, in July this year. The charges against Fuster were later dropped. Gonzalez and Williams have pleaded not guilty to third-degree felony grand theft charges. However, the pair has confessed to “numerous thefts.”
Gonzalez and Williams admitted to stealing $1,000 on average daily while working as TSA agents at Miami International Airport.
Gonzalez has been accepted into a state programme where his charges will be dropped if he completes the programme successfully. He will also have to give up his airport security credentials, pay $700 to two victims and do 25 hours of community service.
Williams, who was not accepted to the programme, will face trial in October.
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