i am flabbergasted...

New York TSA worker accused of sexually abusing passenger

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/28/us/new-york-tsa-screener-charged/index.html

New York (CNN)A Transportation Security Administration screener has been charged with unlawfully imprisoning and sexually abusing a college student in a bathroom after she stepped off a flight at New York's LaGuardia Airport, authorities said Friday.

Maxie Oquendo, 40, a Manhattan resident, allegedly approached the 21-year-old female on Tuesday in an area where passengers do not need to be screened, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. Her flight from Salt Lake City had just landed.

"Hey, ma'am, I need to scan your body and your luggage," the screener allegedly told the passenger, according to the statement.

Oquendo then allegedly motioned for the woman to follow him to a bathroom, the statement said. When she asked that a female TSA employee screen her, the officer ordered her to face a mirror and raise her arms.

The statement said Oquendo allegedly "had her lift up her shirt and unzip her pants and touched her breasts and other areas of her body over and under her clothing."

After telling the passenger he was not checking her luggage, Oquendo allegedly said into his cell phone, "She's clear. She doesn't have any weapons or knives," according to the statement.

TSA officers are not authorized to conduct "a secondary pat-down outside of a checkpoint area," the statement said. "A witness must be present when passengers are patted down by officers of the opposite sex. Those searches must be conducted in a private screening area."

"The defendant is accused of an egregious abuse of his position as a government screener at LaGuardia Airport to sexually victimize a young woman," Brown said in the statement. "Such alleged conduct cannot, under any circumstances, go unpunished."

TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger said in a separate statement that Oquendo has been fired.

"TSA holds its employees to the highest standards," Neffenger said. " As such, we expect our employees to conduct themselves with integrity, professionalism and with respect for the public we serve."

Oquendo is being held pending arraignment on charges of second-degree unlawful imprisonment, official misconduct, third-degree sexual abuse and second-degree harassment, Brown's statement said. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail.

It's unclear whether Oquendo has a lawyer.

In April, two TSA screeners were fired after conspiring to grope attractive men at Denver International Airport, authorities said.

In the Denver case, officials said, when a male TSA officer noticed a man he found attractive, he alerted a female TSA officer.

The female officer would then tell the screening machine that a female passenger -- not a male -- was walking through. That information would trigger a machine to register an anomaly in the groin area, prompting the male TSA officer to pat down the passenger, according to police.

During the pat-down, the male TSA officer used the palms of his hands to touch the passenger's front groin area and buttocks, in violation of TSA policy.

Okay, seriously, WTF people? I read the story and was amazed NOT at the abuse of power, but the fact that the TSA agent is ONLY facing a year in jail for what was done!

2nd degree unlawful imprisonment?? Um, using your badge to prevent someone from leaving a room is forceable confinement. We usually call that KIDNAPPING.

The agent fondles her breasts and touches other body parts under the clothing and that is just THIRD DEGREE sexual abuse??? What do you have to do for second or first?

The agent is also charged with SECOND DEGREE harassment, and official misconduct.

So lemme see if I get this right. I flash a badge, herd you into a bathroom, keep you there by virtue of my law enforcement authority, feel you up and all I can get is a year in jail??? Ok. Kind of explains the number of pervs out there in the world when there is no penalty for such behaviour.

So he loses his job? Hmmmm. Guess he can say to a future employer that he was the victim of an unfounded complaint, or try to lie his way into another government job. Seems the TSA already hires people with a record, so why not just try to get hired at another airport with maybe a private security company?

The guy should be made an example of. Toss him in the gray bar hotel for 10 years.

What's sad is how many TSA people are accused of doing things that they didn't do. Seriously, just paint a target on them because they're fair game for anyone looking to sue and get paid.

I'm not saying that this particular agent didn't do anything wrong, if he did these things then he deserves to be punished. I'm just wanting some sort of punishment for the accuser if it turns out that she was lying.

well, maybe she looked and acted suspicious. He found no bomb or weapons. Good job, well done officer.

Well one assumes that there is video of the conversation when she is first requested for a 'search', and then various camera angles that show them going to the bathroom.

Since the agent has already been fired, one has to assume they showed him the video. If he can find some way to explain it away, then they would have waited for the court case to finish.

For example if the video shows her approaching him, and then they go to the bathroom, he could say she offered him a 'quickie' and it was consentual. Today, since most airports are wired for sound, they may even have the audio on the conversation.

TSA doesn't have a history of unwarranted firings, and there's already too many stories of bad TSA employees out there.

Unless there's a compelling reason to keep him on the payroll, he's out the door.

This doesn't surprise me

I travel a lot and use the NYC airports all the time. I don't know where they get the TSA agents that work there but it appears by their demeanor, language skills, attitude and lack of professionalism that they are the bottom of the barrel.

And it is glaring.

I do not see any reason why he brought her to the bathroom to be privately inspected.

When i travel as a tourist, it does get intimidating to not follow what airport personnel "requests" you to do, especially when traveling alone. They don't usually offer any explanation or reason for detaining you or your passport. And most you can do is just follow them to where they bring you for fear of making an incident and being deemed as "suspicious" and denied entry.

Herself being a resident of Manhattan, i can't see why she did not question and report what was happening BEFORE getting in the bathroom with him.

It's doubtful, the tsa employee will even receive a fine, let alone do any jail time.

Belongs in prison, then on the sex offender registry... just like anyone else.