(ABC News)--A TSA agent was arrested this week and charged with stealing from
passengers traveling through New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, adding
to the long list of TSA officers accused of theft of passenger
belongings.
TSA baggage screener Sean Henry, 32, was arrested on Tuesday after a
sting operation conducted jointly by the TSA and the Port Authority
Police Department caught Henry leaving the airport with two iPads that
had been planted as part of the sting, as well as numerous other
electronics devices he had allegedly stolen from passengers. Just as in a
recent ABC News investigation of thefts by TSA agents, the sting used
the iPads' own tracking capabilities to follow the stolen tablets'
movements.
Transportation Security Administration spokesman David Castelveter told
ABC News that the TSA has "taken the steps to begin processing [Henry]
for termination."
"TSA holds its employees to the highest ethical standards and has zero
tolerance for misconduct in the workplace," said Castelveter in a
statement.
In September, an ABC News investigation revealed that 381 TSA officers had been fired for theft between 2003 and 2012, including 11 up to that point this year.
As part of the investigation, ABC News purposefully left behind an iPad
at an airport security checkpoint in Orlando, Florida, and using the
iPad's GPS tracking app, recovered it at the home of a TSA agent who was
later fired for the alleged theft.
The ABC News investigation prompted Senator Charles Schumer,
D.-New York, to urge the TSA to conduct random sting operations on its
employees "to test whether TSA agents are acting in a trustworthy manner
to protect passenger property."
Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman told ABC News that authorities
have recently stepped up their sting investigations, in part in response
to these reports, and in part because they've received more claims from
passengers about lost and possibly stolen items.
"These sting operations have been growing out there to try to curb this
level of luggage theft, especially as the Christmas holidays are
approaching," Coleman said.
In the sting that resulted in Henry's arrest, officers used GPS
technology in the planted iPads to follow the tablets as they left JFK
on the airport's AirTrain system. Officers allegedly found Henry on the
train with the devices, according to Coleman.
After arresting Henry, Coleman said, investigators found more devices in
his backpack that they have identified as stolen property, including a
MacBook Pro and a pair of new Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones still in the
box. They also found another set of Beats Headphones, an Apple iPad
Mini, an Apple iPod and an iPhone, which were taken for further
investigation.
A subsequent search of his house also turned up a black Apple Macbook that was identified as stolen property, Coleman said.
Henry was charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property.
He was released on his own recognizance on Wednesday night and is due
back in court in January. He has not yet entered a plea.
According to Coleman, police are attempting to locate owners of the
items they found, and more charges will be added when owners are
located.
Coleman called the use of GPS tracking in its sting operations a
"relatively new" tactic.
The TSA declined to talk specifically about covert operations but did
say that the agency has been conducting tests and cooperating with the
Port Authority Police after the latest arrest.
Figures provided to ABC News by the TSA in October in response to a Freedom of Information Act request showed that JFK Airport ranked second in the nation in the number of TSA agents fired for theft, with a total of 27 fired from 2002 through December 2011.
"There's been an ongoing problem with luggage theft out of the airport,
especially terminal 4 which is the international building," Coleman
said.
The TSA disputes that theft is a widespread problem, saying the number
of officers fired "represents less than one-half of one percent of
officers that have been employed" by TSA.
During the ABC News investigation earlier this year, an iPad left behind
at a security checkpoint at the Orlando airport was tracked as it moved
30 miles away to the home of the TSA officer last seen handling it.
Confronted two weeks later by ABC News, the TSA officer, Andy Ramirez,
at first denied having the missing iPad, but ultimately turned it over
after blaming his wife for taking it from the airport. Ramirez was later
fired by the TSA.
The iPad was one of ten purposely left behind at TSA checkpoints at
major airports with a history of theft by government screeners, as part
of an ABC News investigation into the TSA's ongoing problem with theft
of passenger belongings. The other nine iPads were returned to ABC News
after being left behind.
Another former TSA employee, Pythias Brown, served three years in prison
for theft and said he stole approximately $800,000 worth of cash and
merchandise from travelers before he was caught.
"It was very commonplace, very," Brown told ABC News. "It was very
convenient to steal… [TSA agents] didn't think it was okay, but they did
it and said, 'I don't care. They ain't paying me. They're treating me
wrong.' But when people started seeing they could profit off of it, then
it became massive."
