TSA agent at North Carolina airport nabbed for stealing money from traveler’s suitcase (original) (raw)

It may pay to not check your luggage.

A Transportation Security Administration screener in Charlotte, N.C. was arrested after he was allegedly caught stealing money from a traveler’s suitcase, WSOC-TV reported Sunday.

Police in Charlotte said the TSA screener, Reggie Edwards, stole $36 from someone’s suitcase while working at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Jan. 1.

Edwards was fired from his job and charged with larceny under $50.

In a statement, the TSA said it “does not tolerate theft and moved immediately to terminate this individual.”

But this is not the first incident of malfeasance from TSA employees.

In fact, since its inception in 2001 following 9/11, the TSA has had to fire nearly 400 of its own employees for allegedly stealing from passengers, ABC News reported last month.

In one of the most extreme cases, former TSA agent and convicted thief Pythias Brown told ABC News that in three years on the job, he stole about $800,000 in cash and items from suitcases.

The investigation found that Miami International Airport, with 29, and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, with 27, were the two U.S. airports with the highest amount of TSA employees fired for theft since 2002.

Rounding out the rest of the top five were Los Angeles International (24), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (17) and Las-Vegas McCarran International (15).

Originally Published: January 6, 2013 at 3:56 PM EST