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    TSA Agent Stuffs iPad Down Pants, Steals $50K in Electronics

    By Ben Parr | Mashable – Fri, Jul 8, 2011

    Someone should have given this TSA agent a good, old-fashioned pat-down.

    30-year-old Nelson Santiago-Serrano, a former Transportation Security Administration worker at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, has been charged with two counts of grand theft. The Broward Sheriff's Office accuse Santiago of stealing more than $50,000 worth of electronics from passenger luggage over the past six months.

    [More from Mashable: Apple App Store: 15 Billion Downloads & Counting]

    How was he finally caught, you might be wondering? Apparently a Continental Airlines employee caught him in the act of extracting an Apple iPad from a passenger's luggage and stuffing it down his pants. Somehow the former TSA agent thought that nobody would notice that he had a 9.5-inch tablet stuck in his trousers.

    Broward detectives say that Santiago would immediately take a photo of his stolen electronics and put them up for sale online, even before his shift ended. The devices include computers, GPS devices, cameras and, of course, trouser-sized iPads.

    [More from Mashable: Scientists Discover Large Deposit of Rare Minerals Used in iPads]

    This isn't the first time a TSA agent has been caught stealing from passenger luggage, so we suggest locking your bags and checking your inventory throughout your trip. More importantly, be on the lookout for TSA agents that resemble Spongebob Squarepants if you suddenly can't find your iPad.

    Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Apple

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

    10 comments

    • It is me
      It is me  •  10 mths ago
      Where are Yahoo editors when we need them. Last I checked the rules were that you can't lock TSA out of your luggage.....
    • TexasRebel
      TexasRebel  •  10 mths ago
      Typical poorly informed writer. When you're required to have locks that TSA can open -- or they'll cut them off -- it does no good to lock your luggage. Keep your valuables in your carry-on and don't trust TSA. They don't seem to vet their employees.
    • Aragon
      Aragon  •  10 mths ago
      Locking your luggage doesn't work. My wife had 2 digital cameras stolen from her checked luggage that was secured by a TSA Approved Lock.

      The "TSA approved locks" can be easily opened by security personnel using a universal key. The last time she flew, her brand spanking new "TSA Approved Lock" ended up missing also.

      I'll drive, ride a train, ride a bus or video conference before submitting to the draconian search procedures being forced upon the flying public. At some point the people just have to say "enough already!"
    • Arthur
      Arthur  •  10 mths ago
      TSA has never caught a terrorist, and never will. We are less safe with thieves posing as security. No TSA at all. Kill the terrorists in their beds tonight, and we walk freely.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  10 mths ago
      Most TSA agents can resist anything except 'temptation'...Locking your bags is 'not' going to do anything to secure your valuables. They can get into 'any' locked bag, eiether by force or with keys. These morons are drunk with power, arrogant with a sense of immunity, as decreed by homeland security and it's only going to get 'worse' as things progress...The foxes are guarding the henhouse... God help us..
    • J Z
      J Z  •  10 mths ago
      the law steal from the people just hange them because there are breaking the rule we are to follow so if we can not trust them then take them out an hange them
    • paul
      paul  •  10 mths ago
      TSA only hiring the finest most intelligent, honest, caring, dirtbags this country can find. Do they really need to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get their quotas?
    • OldDan
      OldDan  •  10 mths ago
      These are the guys incharge of our secuity. Would you believe, they undergo a secuirty check by the Govt and/or their employer?
      Last time I flew, I opened my "checked" suitcase at home. A pre printed note that my suitcase was opened for further inspection. I didnt really mind. I felt sorry for the guy digging through my dirty underwear. Anything "inviting" was in my carry on bag.
    • A
      A  •  10 mths ago
      The TSA is a gang of thieves, thugs and perverts. Abolish this outfit.
    • dave
      dave  •  10 mths ago
      Federal Hiring Preference employees. The NSA scum have been stealing for years, reported for years, documented for years. FHP emps are unqualified quota gimps who know they only get the jobs by not being white males. Same as the Affirmative Action shame. Certain they can never be fired. The Air Marshal drug mules were, what?, Latino FHP's, right? Check the (scant) news releases about all the Homeland Committee for State Security criminal scum. Reverse discrimination by the Feds, adopted by all levels of gov't, and FHP scum get badges and unaccountable access to humans' lives.
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