TSA Employee Stole $50k Worth of Electronics

mrquagmire writes "A Continental Airlines employee Monday caught Nelson Santiago-Serrano, 30, stealing an iPad from a suitcase in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office. Over the past six months, Santiago-Serrano told authorities he stole $50,000 worth of computers, GPS devices and other electronics from luggage he screened, took pictures of them to post for sale online and sold the items often by the time his shift ended."

Comments

Your government dollars at work.

[Pharmboy]

Thank god for the TSA. I feel safer already.

Security FAIL

[putaro]

If they can take something out without getting caught, they could be putting something in. Who would bother with suicide bombs if they can slip it into the luggage?

Re:Security FAIL

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

I was going to subscribe to your newsletter, but then I thought about how many dead uppity stewardesses would result from armed passengers, and then I really wanted to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re:Think of how many terrorists he stopped though!

[ae1294]

Think of how many terrorists he stopped though!

Yeah those apple lovers piss me off too!

How many get away with it?

[damn_registrars]

My luggage gets searched all the time. I'm pretty sure they've never taken anything - at least not anything I've ever missed - from my luggage. But really, if something was taken I wouldn't have any recourse for it. Who would you report it to? How would you prove it was there to begin with? Being as you release your checked bags before you even go through security, and they pass through multiple hands before they even get on to your plane, there is a chain of inaccountability. Even if you did something obscure but unique to identify your property you still wouldn't be able to prove who took it by the time it showed up on the black market.

And of course, if you're like me and you don't live near a hub airport - therefore you need to take connections all the time - you and your luggage go through that many more sets of gates and hands before getting to your destination.

Re:How many get away with it?

[GNUman]

I once had a Sony PSP and an iPod stolen from my baggage on a Continental Airlines flight going out from Newark Airport (Yes, I should've taken them in my carry on, I had no space left and was overly trusting).

I complained to Continental Airlines and they basically said "Tough luck, we don't go through your baggage, it's the TSA. Take it up with them." They added "We do recommend our passengers to avoid putting any electronics in their baggage".

TSA has a form you can fill to file a complaint. It includes sending the receipts of your stolen objects and witnesses that confirm you did have them in your baggage and witnesses that confirm they were not there when you arrived. Then they supposedly "start an investigation".

I had lost the receipts of my items and being outside the US it was difficult to go to the store and try to get a copy. So I never submitted the papers. I did learn my lesson. Never put electronics in your baggage, it will come up in scans and become an excuse for someone to open it.

Re:How many get away with it?

[stephanruby]

You should have submitted the papers anyway. It doesn't matter if they're properly filled out, or not. It's not like they were going to reimburse you anyway. You fill out the papers, so that at least, your incident gets recorded in their statistics.

Often times, authorities try to dissuade you from filling out paperwork, bad statistics make their bosses look bad, but then again, if no incident is ever recorded or filed, it's as if your incident never even officially occurred.

Over the past six months

[Arancaytar]

Over the past six months, Santiago-Serrano told authorities he stole $50,000 worth of computers,

If he's been confessing for that long, you'd think they'd have stopped him before!

(Sponsored by the grammar police)

TSA: taking freedom so terrorists don't have to

[mykos]

Being molested, xrayed, shown naked on a screen, and robbed is a small price to pay to keep terrorists from taking away my freedom!

How to avoid the TSA thieves

[kwiqsilver]

If you must fly, here's what to do:

• Buy a hard plastic or metal suitcase with locks.
• Buy a pistol, if you don't have one already. (A starter pistol, which has no legal restrictions on ownership or purchase in any state, works just as well).
• Put your pistol in the suitcase, check-in at the counter, and tell the airline rep you have a firearm to declare.
• Fill out the card that says your firearm is unloaded, put it in your suitcase, and lock it (with real locks, not TSA-approved ones), while the airline rep watches.
• Walk down to the TSA screener with the airline rep, and hand your bag over.
• The TSA screener will scan your bag while you wait. If there's a need to open it, the screener will have you open it, and will look through the bag while you watch.

It is illegal for them to open your bag without you being present, if you have a firearm declared. (I guess the government doesn't trust the TSA near guns...if only they'd expand that mistrust to all the federal alphabet soup criminals).

I discovered this accidentally, because I usually take at least one pistol whenever I fly anywhere, and have been using it ever since. If I'm going some place anti-gun, like Chicago or CA, I take a firearm component, like a barrel, which still has to be checked the same way, but can't get me into trouble on the trip.

Re:How to avoid the TSA thieves

[kwiqsilver]

They tend to treat me like I'm crazy. But then, I don't look anything like a cop; I look like a slacker software engineer.

A few years ago at Sea-Tac, I had an Alaska rep tell me I couldn't check in a firearm. We had to call her boss over. Fortunately he was familiar with the form, and knew what to do. And the first rep was very apologetic and friendly after. And the best part is: nobody stole the external HDD out of my suitcase!

I also recommend printing out a copy of the TSA page on flying with firearms, in case you get somebody who doesn't have a clue.

Re:How to avoid the TSA thieves

[macshit]

When I fly out of Narita, they seem to do the baggage exam before checkin, which seems a much better system.

Baggage is x-rayed upon entering the checkin area, and if they're suspicious, they pull you aside to a table and have you open the suitcase and go through it. The examiner just watches, giving directions as needed (indeed, it's very clear they're under orders not to touch anything), and asks you to explain anything unusual. It works very well, and gives real peace of mind.

Re:How to avoid the TSA thieves

[Obfuscant]

I also recommend printing out a copy of the TSA page on flying with firearms, in case you get somebody who doesn't have a clue.

Fantastic. I think everyone who flies should carry one round of ammunition in an original package every time they fly. The rule that TSA will inspect the package at the ticket counter will cause a massive breakdown in the TSA system, as all TSA operatives will be up at the ticket counter inspecting one round of ammunition each and nobody will be available to search bags and steal stuff. It will also require a personal escort to the CTX machines so that the passenger doesn't do anything to the now-searched baggage.

Or, the checkin process will get so backed up that nobody will be able to fly anywhere.

Re:How to avoid the TSA thieves

[erroneus]

That's an excellent point, actually. I knew this but it never actually occurred to me that the fact can be utilized in this way. (I wanted to say "methodized" but I'm not sure that's a work which is real enough... I like the word though.) Yes, as a former TSA screener operating out of Texas, I have a few interesting gun stories... at least they were interesting to me at the time. Most of them stem from people with CHLs who FORGOT they brought their pistols with them (all of them women) and decided to check their carry-on with the pistol in the bag... usually loaded.

But when people did check their firearms properly, they did get the red carpet treatment. Part of the reason for this is the mentality that they are wannabe cops. Some actually call themselves "federal agents." It's sick and stupid but also quite true.

Personally, I have always felt that carrying the gear with you was the best way to go, but this is giving me cause to reconsider.

As for the security of your things, I still can't say that I have ever witnessed a condition which enabled people to steal things so easily as described in the article. At my airport, there were eyes pretty much everywhere and co-workers were likely to snitch on one another. (Proof positive that they aren't cops right?)

But with that said, there was a huge bust as my airport that occurred while I was there which involved baggage handlers. They were stealing tool boxes, golf clubs and rummaging through TSA screened luggage after the TSA passed them on. So if the airline says "don't look at us, look to the TSA" that's not the full truth of the matter.

I'm not here to defend the TSA or its screeners, but I would like to remind people that the TSA isn't a single hive mind of trained professionals. They are a bunch of people from different walks of life but most of which are the same [types] of people who might serve you at a burger restaurant. And the rule for dealing with restaurant people is pretty much the same as dealing with the TSA -- treat them with respect and kindness as you are being served or else you could end up with results you don't care for. But when the service is done, feel free to express your opinions and views.

Re:Funny That

[todrules]

Actually, if you really want it to get there, buy a starter pistol and pack it in the suitcase. Then, you have to declare that you have a firearm when you check it. Believe me, that suitcase will have tons of security. Nobody will steal anything from there. Also, since it's a starter pistol and not a real pistol, you don't have to worry about the gun laws in the state you are traveling to.

Re:once again, we ask -

[sco08y]

Who watches the watcher? No, do not look in the direction of Washington DC. Nobody there cares.

First off DC is not the only place to look. Texas has put together an "anti-groping" bill, supported by the governor. At least two presidential candidates have proposed abolishing it altogether. And there's a bill in the House aimed at making TSA agents liable for unwanted physical contact.

That's just from a quick search... there are plenty of legislators who are interested in reforming the TSA, but the specifics of how the TSA is run is the executive branch's responsibility, so you should probably write the President.

Re:Funny That

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Actually, if you really want it to get there, buy a starter pistol and pack it in the suitcase.

Don't try to commit suicide with it, though. It'll get you detention.

Re:once again, we ask -

[IonOtter]

Except that Texas chickened out and backed off. The TSA threated to designate the entire state of Texas a "no-fly zone".

However, it would seem that a few legislators actually used their brains and thought about that for a moment, and decided to push the issue and call the government's bluff.

I mean, seriously. Who actually believes that the feds would actually BAN all flights in and out of Texas?

Please...

Liberty safely removed...

[Gription]

More to the point:
There is no valid reason that I shouldn't be able to demand that my property be inspected in my presence and then be allowed to lock it securely before it is trundled off to the baggage handlers. Even if the TSA was above reproach, baggage handlers are not a group to be blindly trusted either.

There are events that I used to go to by air that I can't go to anymore. When you are traveling an item that a fingerprint can cause $2000 of damage to either you drive or you don't go.