TSA employee arrested for theft at Miami airport

[alp227]

Source: Miami Herald

Police have arrested a Transportation Security Administration employee who stole about $50,000 worth of electronics from travelers’ luggage at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Nelson Santiago, 30, of Hollywood, was arrested after an employee with Continental Airlines saw him slip an I-Pad computer out of a suitcase and into his pants on Monday, said Dani Moschella, spokeswoman for Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Santiago has been charged with two counts of grand theft. He was released from jail on Tuesday, according to a report released on Thursday.

An investigation by detectives lead them to find Santiago responsible for a string of similar thefts during the past six months.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/07/08/117273/tsa-employee-arrested-for-theft.html

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via http://www.drudge.com/news/146034/tsa-worker-arrested-theft

[MineralMan]

1. There are crooks in all types of jobs.

But you knew that...

[saras]

2. But not similar quantities or types

Some jobs recognize that they're working with peoples' valuables and risky situations, and put things in place to make theft more difficult, up to the point of "too difficult for actual real live thieves". And some jobs don't. As it's the airlines and not the TSA that loses out when a TSA employee is corrupt, it's not surprising it had to be an airline employee to catch the guy. The TSA has no incentive.

[TheMadMonk]

9. Worst case. TSA "makes good" and taxpayer covers the hit. /nt

[liberation]

5. Your point being what exactly?

[saras]

7. That TSA is not worthy of the trust we place in it

They're, in general, incompetent bozos with spectacular misunderstandings of the law, the Constitution, human beings, social behavior, crime, and risk. They MAY be able to competently run a McDonalds franchise, but we'd be safer if they simply disappeared today, as long as the bigwigs upstairs and their attitudes disappeared, not just the low-level jobs.

The other side of my point is that the TSA, if they WERE competent, would have had cameras on these guys, reviewed by supervisors, and they would have caught him after, if not during, the FIRST theft. If anyplace in America genuinely calls for security cameras overseeing employees, this is the place.

[Blue_Tires]

3. At one time, MIA had a long-standing reputation for being the epicenter

of smuggling, black markets and stolen goods trading (this actually pre-dates the cocaine wars)...If you knew the right guys to talk to there was nothing you couldn't buy, almost like a modern-day Constantinople...

[Javaman]

4. And these are the guys that touch our junk...nt

[saras]

6. At least they don't steal it - yet

[Auggie]

8. lol

:)