[Infowarrior] - TSA screeners caught stealing electronics

[Richard Forno]

Sting nabs sticky-fingered JFK airport workers going through luggage
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/07/15/2009-07-15_sting_nabs_stickyfingered_jfk_airport_workers_going_through_luggage.html?print=1&page=all

BY Wil Cruz
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, July 15th 2009, 4:00 AM

A sting captured by security cameras nabbed two sticky-fingered  
airport workers who swiped electronics planted by authorities,  
officials said.
Brian Burton, 27, and Antwon Simmons, 26, stole a laptop and cell  
phone from the decoy luggage as it moved through Kennedy Airport, Port  
Authority officials said.

"When air travelers check their luggage with an airline, there is an  
implicit trust that their bags and their contents will meet them at  
their destination," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. "The  
defendants are accused of betraying that trust."

Burton, an officer with the Transportation Security Administration,  
was videotaped July 7 pilfering through the Miami-bound suitcase in an  
airport screening room while Simmons, a baggage handler, looked on.

The thieves also switched the luggage tags, hoping to conceal their  
handiwork, officials said.

The suitcase was a trap set by the Transportation Security  
Administration and Delta Air Lines.

They stuffed the luggage with a lap top, an iPod and two cell phones,  
prosecutors said.

The pilfering pair - who had been on cops' radar, a source said - took  
the bait, failing the so-called integrity test.

Burton, of Queens, and Simmons, of Brooklyn, were awaiting arraignment  
last night on charges of grand larceny, possession of stolen property  
and falsifying business records.

They face up to four years in prison if convicted.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/07/15/2009-07-15_sting_nabs_stickyfingered_jfk_airport_workers_going_through_luggage.html?print=1&page=all#ixzz0LLpoGKHt 
&C