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Man Passes TSA With Stolen Boarding Pass

It took nearly four weeks before the TSA admitted to an inexplicable security breach at Salt Lake City International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has confirmed that a Utah man managed to pass through a security checkpoint and check in for a flight using another person’s boarding pass inadvertently left behind at an automated ticketing kiosk. According to ABC News, the TSA did not disclose any information about the November 5 security breach at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) until late last week, just before the start of the busy holiday travel weekend.

The 61-year-old registered sex offender, identified as Michael Salata, was eventually taken into custody after Southwest Airlines agents alerted authorities that the ticket and its replacement had been presented by two different passengers. Salata was reportedly waiting for the flight in a nearby boarding area when police caught up with him. The ticket he was attempting to use was issued in the name of a woman who used a mobile device to replace her stolen boarding pass.

“He tried to make it seem like it was a mistake, that the boarding pass printed incorrectly, or that he grabbed the wrong boarding pass,” SLC Aiport Police Chief Craig Vargo told the Deseret News.

TSA spokesperson Lori Dankers said that while checkpoint workers failed to match Salata to the boarding pass he was supposedly traveling under, he was still subjected to the same security screening as any other passenger. “There are multiple layers of security in place,” she insisted in a statement to the newspaper.

Salata, who police say had a small amount of marijuana with him when he was arrested, was charged with drug possession as well as a felony count of fraudulent handling of a legal document.

[Photo: Getty]

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strickerj December 2, 2015

Nah, it's only a legal document when they're sticking it to you, not vice versa... That said, I wouldn't be surprised if that was just the closest charge they could stick, and it'll eventually get pleaded down. They could have just as easily claimed trespassing for getting past security without proper credentials, but that probably wouldn't have been a felony.

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BJM December 1, 2015

Probably not, DirtyDan.

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DirtyDan December 1, 2015

A boarding pass is a "legal document"? Does that mean the airline must seat me in the exact seat that's printed on the card... interesting.