A 36-year-old American Airlines flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, has been arrested for allegedly recording minors in airplane lavatories, and now faces charges including attempted sexual exploitation of children. The airline company, American Airlines, is also facing legal action from the family of one of the victims.Thompson’s arrest followed accusations that he covertly recorded several young girls during flights, leading to legal consequences for American Airlines. The charges initially stemmed from an incident in September, where a 14-year-old girl discovered an iPhone taped to the toilet during a flight from North Carolina’s Charlotte to Boston, prompting her family to file a lawsuit against the airline.A federal investigation uncovered more distressing details, revealing four prior victims, including a 9-year-old girl from Texas, connected to Thompson’s alleged actions. The parents of the 9-year-old have filed a lawsuit claiming that Thompson recorded their child during a January 2023 flight to Los Angeles, where the family was heading to Disney World and a gymnastics meet.Explicit images of the 9-year-old victim’s face, buttocks, and genitals were reportedly recovered from Thompson’s iCloud account. The aftermath of the incident has left the young victim struggling with fear and anxiety. Thompson faces serious charges, including one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, specifically in connection with the case involving the 14-year-old victim.During a flight, Thompson allegedly redirected the 14-year-old victim to the first-class bathroom, claiming a malfunctioning toilet seat in the nearby lavatory. This led to the discovery of an iPhone crudely taped to the seat with its flashlight turned on, which became pivotal in exposing the hidden camera. A subsequent confrontation between the girl’s father and Thompson occurred as the flight approached Boston, where authorities found 11 additional stickers in the lavatory. Thompson then locked himself in the bathroom with his phone, raising suspicions of potential evidence tampering.Authorities investigating Thompson’s iCloud account uncovered four additional instances between January and August 2023, where he allegedly recorded minor girls aged 7, 9, 11, and 14. Officials also discovered hundreds of AI-generated child pornography images stored on Thompson’s iCloud account.
