An American Airways flight attendant used to be indicted Thursday after government mentioned he attempted to secretly file video of a 14-year-old woman the usage of an aircraft rest room final September. Police have additionally alleged that Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had recordings of 4 different women the usage of toilets on an airplane the place he labored, in line with the AP. Thompson used to be indicted on one depend of tried sexual exploitation of youngsters and one depend of ownership of pictures of kid sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor. Thompson used to be charged and arrested in January 2024 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been in federal custody since.
Investigators mentioned that about halfway via a Sept. 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old were given up to make use of the primary cabin bathroom nearest to her seat however discovered it used to be occupied. Thompson then advised her the first class bathroom used to be unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators mentioned. Sooner than she entered the toilet, Thompson advised her he had to wash his fingers and that the bathroom seat used to be damaged, they mentioned. After he left, the teenager entered the toilet and noticed pink stickers at the underside of the bathroom seat lid, which used to be within the open place, officers mentioned.
Underneath the stickers, Thompson had hid his iPhone to file a video, investigators mentioned; the woman used her telephone to take an image of the stickers and hid iPhone sooner than leaving. Prosecutors additionally allege loads of pictures of kid sexual abuse generated via synthetic intelligence had been discovered saved on Thompson’s iCloud account. A seek of that account printed 4 further cases between January 2023 and August of that yr during which Thompson recorded a minor the usage of the rest room on an airplane, in keeping with investigators. The ones depicted within the recordings had been 7, 9, 11, and 14 years outdated on the time, they mentioned. Their households had been contacted via police, investigators be aware.
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American Airways in the past issued a remark announcing the flight attendant used to be “straight away withheld from provider” and hasn’t labored for the reason that telephone used to be came upon. Tried sexual exploitation of youngsters carries a sentence of 15 to 30 years in jail, whilst possessing pictures of sexual abuse of a prepubescent minor can imply as much as twenty years in jail. Each fees additionally supply for a minimum of 5 years and as much as an entire life of supervised unlock, a positive of as much as $250,000, and restitution. (Extra flight attendant tales.)
