An American Airlines flight attendant has been accused of secretly recording underage passengers while they were using the airplane bathrooms, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said Thursday.
An American Airlines flight attendant has been arrested for allegedly surreptitiously recording or attempting to record a minor female passenger using a lavatory aboard an aircraft he was working in September 2023. The defendant is also alleged to have possessed recordings of four additional minor female passengers using lavatories aboard the aircraft he had worked previously.
FBI , in its social media handle said,
"Today, the #FBI arrested Estes Carter Thompson III, an American Airlines flight attendant, for allegedly filming minors using aircraft bathrooms. He was taken into custody without incident in Lynchburg, VA"
Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is accused of recording five girls in multiple incidents between January 2023 and September 2023. U.S. Attorney's Office release read,
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, N.C., was charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. Thompson was arrested today in Lynchburg, Va. and will remain in custody pending his initial appearance in the Western District of Virginia. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
An investigation began after an incident on Sept. 2, when a 14-year-old passenger reported that she had found an iPhone taped to the backside of the toilet lid while she was using the bathroom on a flight from Boston to Charlotte.
Attorney Paul T. Llewellyn representing the family involved, said,
"It is shocking that a sexual predator could brazenly prey on a minor while she used the bathroom on a flight.," Llewellyn said in a statement earlier this year. Llewellyn said it happened aboard American Airlines flight 1441 from Charlotte to Boston on Sept. 2. The family has filed a lawsuit.
According to the charging documents, on Sept. 2, 2023, while working as a flight attendant onboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C. to Boston, Mass., Thompson video-recorded or attempted to surreptitiously video-record a 14-year-old female passenger as she used the aircraft lavatory.
Specifically, approximately midway through the flight, the minor victim got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to where she was seated. When the minor victim arrived at the lavatory it was occupied.
After the minor victim had been waiting a short time, Thompson allegedly approached her, told her that the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her toward first class. Before the minor victim entered the lavatory, Thompson allegedly told her that he needed to wash his hands and that the lavatory’s toilet seat was broken and briefly entered the lavatory.
It is alleged that, after Thompson exited the lavatory, the minor victim entered and observed red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, that stated, “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” and “REMOVE FROM SERVICE,” and “SEAT BROKEN” was hand-written in black ink on one of the stickers.
It is alleged that, beneath the red stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video. The minor victim used her phone to take a picture of the red stickers and the concealed iPhone she found in the lavatory before exiting, at which time Thompson allegedly re-entered it immediately.
A witness who used the bathroom soon after told investigators that he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary and did not see any red stickers on the toilet seat.
The girl told her parents what she found and they reported it to other flight attendants and the captain, who reported it to authorities on the ground. Her father also confronted Thompson, who went back into the bathroom, court documents state.
Thompson was met by law enforcement at Boston Logan Airport when the plane landed. Investigators said it seemed Thompson's phone had been reset to factory settings, but a search of his suitcase turned up stickers similar to the ones described by the victim. Investigators also found other recordings on Thompson's iCloud account.
The victims in the recordings were 7, 9, 11and 14 years old. There were also photos of a 9-year-old unaccompanied minor who took one of Thompson's flights, prosecutors say. Those photos included close-ups and photos of the victim sleeping.
Investigators also found AI-generated images of child sex abuse. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, said,
“The deeply disturbing conduct alleged here is something no parent or child should ever have to worry about when they travel. Mr. Thompson allegedly used his position to prey on and surreptitiously record innocent children, including unaccompanied minors, while in a vulnerable state aboard flights he was working.”
American Airlines said at the time of the Sept. 2 incident that Thompson was "withheld from service" immediately after the allegations came to light and has not worked since.
"We take these allegations very seriously. They don’t reflect our airline or our core mission of caring for people. We have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation as there is nothing more important than the safety and security of our customers and team," the company said in a statement Thursday.
The families of all of the alleged victims have been notified. Thompson has been charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. He was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia on Thursday and is expected to appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children provides for a sentence of at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison.
Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
