Two TSA officers based out of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York are trading their jobs for jail sentences, reports the Mail Online.

Coumar Pesad, 44, and Davon Webb, 31, admitted to stealing $40,000 in cash from a single checked bag, the paper reports. Persad saw money in the bag as it passed through a scanning device. He marked the bag with a piece of tape and phoned Webb, at the baggage belt area, to warn him about the bag. Webb grabbed it from the belt and the two later met in a bathroom to divide the cash.

Both were sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation.

No word on what a passenger was doing traveling with $40,000 in cash or whether that is under investigation.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

Sgt. 1st Class Trey Scott Atwater, the military man who shut down a Texas airport over the weekend when he tried to carry on explosives to a flight, said he didn’t know the prohibited materials were in his bag, FayObserver reports.

Atwater had not used his carry-on bag since bringing it back from Afghanistan in April, a federal affidavit released on Tuesday say. Atwater took the bag from his garage to carry children’s items for a family trip to Texas, he said, according to the website.

Atwater waived a hearing scheduled for Tuesday and will remain in custody in Midland, Tex. , the US Attorney in Midland said. If convicted he faces up to ten years in federal prison, in addition to fines.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

A member of the US military has been charged after being detained at a Texas airport over the weekend for attempting to board a plane with explosives wrapped in military-grade wrapping, the Associated Press reports.

Trey Scott Atwater was stopped by security at the Midland International Airport around 9 a.m. on Saturday. He has been charged with trying to bring explosives onto an airplane, according to FBI spokesman Mike Martinez.

To read more click here.

file photo

Holiday travelers this month were packing more than presents when heading off to the nation’s airports.

The Transportation Security Administration reported that 31 firearms were found at airport checkpoints the week of Dec. 19 to Christmas Day.

The weekly TSA tally of guns found at airport checkpoints normally ranges during the year from the teens to the 30s. The common excuse: Passengers  say they forgot the gun was in their luggage.

In addition to guns found during that weekly period in December, the TSA reported that it discovered “7 artfully concealed prohibited items.”

Also, two passengers were arrested “after investigation of suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents.”

file photo

Two elderly women claimed this week that TSA employees, during private screenings at John F. Kennedy International Airport, embarrassed them by asking them to lower their pants and expose private items to the officers, reports WPLG. One claims she was made to lower her pants and underwear so her back brace could be inspected; the other said she was made to lower her waste and show officers her colostomy bag.

The TSA says the officers followed proper procedures in both cases, the station reported.

But with the aging US population, such searched may become even more common, according to the WPLG report. Many prosthetics and medical devices cannot go through regular scans.

“You have pacemakers, you have artificial hips, you have artificial knees,” Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said, according to the station.”As we get older and we keep ourselves together, it’s going to take more and more surgery. There’s going to be more and more medical improvements, but that can create what appears to be a security issue.”

Prosthetics can set off metal detectors, while bags and catheters create bulges in people’s clothing that security officials are likely to question.

The TSA says it continues to try and tailor screening procedure for different demographics. The agency has formed an advisory committee, with 70 disability groups, to adapt screening techniques.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

A Transportation Security Administration employee in uniform flashed his badge and apparently more at a woman near his Manassas, Va., home.

Harold Glenn Rodman, a 52-year-old airport screener, has been charged with abduction with intent to defile, aggravated sexual assault, forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration, reports CNN.

According to police, a 37-year-old woman was walking with a friend in the neighborhood when Rodman approached and displayed a badge, then sexually assaulted the woman before she fled on foot. Rodman matched a description police had recorded on a patrol call while canvassing the neighborhood.

The Dulles International Airport employee has been removed from work pending the investigation.

“TSA holds its personnel to the highest professional and ethical standards, and investigates all allegations of misconduct,” TSA spokesman Greg Soule told CNN. “The disturbing allegations against this individual in no way reflect the work of the more than 50,000 security officers who every day ensure the security of the traveling public.”

To read more click here.

The TSA has got the Christmas-time itch for unwrapping gifts.

The agency has announced a zero-tolerance towards wrapped gifts after one passenger was found to be carrying marijuana in a wrapped gift, reports CBS Los Angeles. That means the TSA will unwrap your wrap if it’s suspicious.

The TSA realizes there  are many other items that could be disguised as gifts during the holiday season, says the CBS report. “Certain sporting items such as bats, bows and arrows and pool cues cannot be brought on board unless checked,” it reads.

To read more click here.

The Transportation Security Administration is still not scanning 100 percent of  the parcels on inbound international flights, and Congress wants to know why.

The website NextGov.com reports that it appears TSA will miss a deadline to scan all parcels on overseas planes for the second time, and House Democrats have sent a letter to TSA officials demanding an explanation,NextGov.com

Following 9/11,  TSA was mandated to screen 100 percent of international inbound passenger plane cargo by August of 2010. NextGov reported that when the time came and the task still seemed too great, “partly due to technological challenges,” the deadline was extended until the end of this year.

Still, TSA is reportedly screening only “identified high-risk” parcels. In an Oct. 31 letter legislators demanded to know if the TSA is skirting the law, reports NextGov.

Bomb-making materials were found hidden in packaged printer parts headed from Yemen to the United States about a year ago.

The TSA declined to comment specifically on the new demands, but TSA spokesman Greg Soule did say that the TSA is continuing its efforts to detect and eliminate risk, NextGov reported.

“Air cargo is more secure than it has ever been with 100 percent of cargo on flights departing US airports and 100 percent of identified high-risk international inbound cargo undergoing screening,” he said in a statement.

To read more click here.

The son of a former Los Angeles fire chief and a Transportation Security Administration officer find themselves in big trouble.

Authorities on Monday charged Millage Peaks IV with bribing TSA officer Dianne Perez to smuggle marijuana past security at Los International Airport on nine separate trips, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Times reported that Peaks confessed to FBI agents that he and associated paid the TSA officer $5,000 to $6,000 in bribes to smuggle the dope.

The Times reported that Peaks and TSA Officer Dianne Perez were arrested Sunday after a baggage handler smelled 14 pounds of marijuana in the luggage.

The Times reported that Peaks is the son of Millage Peaks III, who was the LA fire chief until earlier this year. His sister works for the airport police department. Both said they were unaware of what was going on.

file photo

You’d think just two weeks after the 10th Anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, people would be conscious about bringing guns to airports. You’d think.

But nooo.

As part of ticklethewire.com’s occasional check up on guns at airports, we found that 20 firearms were found at airport checkpoints in the U.S. the week of Sept. 22 to Oct. 2, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

What’s more, during that week two “artfully concealed prohibited items” were found and 12 passengers were arrested after investigations of suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents.