A flight attendant working for American Airlines has been arrested after it was discovered he had allegedly been recording or trying to record a 14-year-old female passenger using the lavatory during a flight he was working in September last year, authorities announced Thursday.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, from Charlotte, North Carolina, is also accused of having four additional recordings of minor female passengers using the restroom aboard other flights he worked previously.
Authorities said that on Sept. 23, 2023, Thompson spotted the 14-year-old girl waiting to use an occupied lavatory. The flight attendant approached the girl and told her that the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there.
“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,” Officials with the United States Attorney, District of Massachusetts, stated in a news release.
When the victim entered the lavatory, she noticed red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position.
The stickers were printed with the phrases “Inoperative Catering Equipment” and “Remove From Service,” along with another phrase that was handwritten in black ink that read “Seat Broken.”
Authorities said Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record video and 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.”
After showing her parents the photographs of what she saw in the lavatory, the incident was reported to other flight attendants and the flight captain, who notified law enforcement on the ground at Boston’s Logan Airport.
When confronted by the victim’s father, the 36-year-old flight attendant reportedly locked himself in the lavatory for several minutes prior to the plane landing.
After he was detained at the airport, police noted that Thompson’s phone may have been restored to factory settings. A subsequent search of his luggage revealed 11 “Inoperative Catering Equipment” stickers, like those the minor victim photographed in the lavatory. Authorities said that recordings of four additional victims aged 7, 9, 11 and 14 were found in his iCloud account, which were taken on flights between January and August 2023.
Along with hundreds of AI-generated images of child pornography, more than 50 photographs of a 9-year-old unaccompanied girl were discovered and were reportedly found in his iCloud account as well. Those images included photos of her in her seat prior to takeoff and close-ups of her face while she slept, authorities said.
“The deeply disturbing conduct alleged here is something no parent or child should ever have to worry about when they travel,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “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.”
Law enforcement was able to identify all the minor victims in the images and notify their families.
Thompson faces charges of attempted child sexual exploitation and child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. If convicted on all counts, the 36-year-old could be sentenced to 50 years in federal prison, as well as a lifetime of supervised release and up to $250,000 in restitution.
“What Mr. Thompson is accused of doing is disgraceful, and we believe, calculated, given that this alleged conduct occurred on at least five flights,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division.
Anyone who may have been a victim of sexual assault or other crimes aboard an aircraft is urged to contact the FBI’s tip line at 800-225-5324 or by using the bureau’s online tip form.