TSA Agent Caught With Passenger's iPad in His Pants; Allegedly Took $50,000 in Other Goods, Cops Say
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verydemotivational.com |
While most Transportation Security Administration employees are busy groping people or taking naked pictures of them, the cops say one of those employees was putting fliers' electronics down his pants.
The Broward Sheriff's Office says 30-year-old Nelson Santiago stole around $50,000 worth of electronics over the past six months from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's Terminal 1.
Santiago -- a TSA officer since 2009 -- was caught earlier this week by a Continental Airlines employee taking an iPad out of someone's luggage and stuffing it into his pants, the cops say.
After being arrested Monday on two counts of grand theft, police say Santiago admitted to stealing computers, GPS devices, video cameras, and other electronic merchandise from luggage he was supposed to be screening.
The cops say Santiago would immediately take pictures of his new goods and upload the photos online to sell the stuff.
Santiago would typically sell the stolen goods to people before his shift was even over, police say.
BSO detectives estimate that Santiago's haul totaled $50,000 over the past six months.
The cops are looking for people whose stuff has been stolen, although they say the chances of getting the stuff back are slim.
Santiago was released from jail on bond, although police say more charges against him are pending. According to police, Santiago no longer works with the TSA.
Below is Santiago's mug shot.
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BSO |
Nelson Santiago |
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sodahead.com |
Invasive and sticky. |
Our news yesterday of 30-year-old Transportation Security Administration worker
Nelson Santiago's being arrested after apparently being caught stuffing a passenger's iPad in his pants and allegedly stealing $50,000 worth of electronics from luggage went around the world -- from
Australia to the
United Kingdom.
But Santiago is hardly the first TSA employee to be accused of stealing fliers' goods. In fact, he joins at least six other sticky-fingered TSA crew members who were also recently caught allegedly lifting things from luggage.
Two news outlets -- the
New York Press and
Hot Air -- have reported that around 500 TSA employees have been fired from the agency for theft since its inception in November 2001. Check out our compilation of the TSA's recent thieving history after the jump:
- June 23, 2011 -- Paul Yashou
Yashou, 37, was allegedly caught stealing things out of people's bags at Terminal 1 of the Los Angeles International Airport, a habit put to an end by the LAPD. According to
CBS Los Angeles, Yashou was caught due to a tip from an Orange County pawn shop. Investigators followed up and believe that Yashou -- who'd been working at the terminal for almost nine years -- had made off with $30,000 worth of people's belongings.
- June 18, 2011 -- Karla Morgan
Undercover cops had a strong suspicion that Morgan, 49, was stealing things from luggage out of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. With agents from the Department of Homeland Security and cops in tow, investigators sent a wallet with $1,000 in marked bills down the inspection line, according to
Examiner.com. On the way out of work, Morgan was arrested when investigators allegedly found that $1,000 in her backpack.
- May 10, 2011 -- Ryan Driscoll
Driscoll, 31, was also accused of stealing items out of fliers' luggage at LAX. He was arrested at the airport's Terminal 6, according to the
Associated Press, although it wasn't disclosed what he was accused of stealing.
- March 11, 2011 -- Dawn Nikole Keka
Keka faced a federal embezzling charge after allegedly stealing cash from a federal agent posing as a Japanese tourist at Kona International Airport in Hawaii, according to the
Big Island News Center. The "tourist" went through security with 13 marked $100 bills in her wallet, and Keka's "search" of the wallet allegedly included pocketing two of the Benjamins for herself. The feds also found four other bills in her pocket of various denominations, although it's not said whether those were stolen.
- February 16, 2011 -- Davon Webb and Persad Coumar
Webb 30, and Coumar, 44, were both TSA agents at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. According to
Reuters, Coumar would alert Webb when he found cash in a bag he was screening. Webb would place tape on the bag, and they would allegedly recover the cash in a luggage area later. Cops reportedly found $40,000 stashed in the men's homes, although they allegedly admitted to stealing as much as an additional $160,000.
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