Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate - Virginian-Pilot: Ex-TSA screener John Irwin charged with grand larceny

The link:

The Virginian-Pilot:
Ex-TSA screener charged with grand larceny
July 17, 2012 (http://hamptonroads.com/2012/07/extsa-screener-charged-grand-larceny)

And a short quote:
A former federal security screener at Norfolk International Airport has been charged with grand larceny in an alleged theft from a passenger.

and

Irwin screened passengers and bags for the Transportation Security Administration, said airport authority spokesman Wayne Shank. A passenger left cash in a tray while being patted down by a security agent, Shank said. The passenger forgot the money until he reached his plane, he said. When the man returned to the check point, the money was gone, Shank said.

"Irwin, a federal employee, worked for the agency between September 2002 and November 2011, she said."

...and this was undoubtedly the ONLY theft the accused committed in all that time, a singular lapse in judgement that was a ONE-TIME incident of moral weakness.

Yeah, right.

At least (I assume) in this case the TSA cameras were working. Shocking.

"Irwin, a federal employee, worked for the agency between September 2002 and November 2011, she said."

...and this was undoubtedly the ONLY theft the accused committed in all that time, a singular lapse in judgement that was a ONE-TIME incident of moral weakness.

Yeah, right.

At least (I assume) in this case the TSA cameras were working. Shocking.

Of course it's his first time, otherwise he would have been smart enough not to get caught!:rolleyes:

I do find it encouraging that in at least some rare instances, like this one, TSA appears to get on the cameras immediately and resolve a problem in a timely manner.

The more usual handling would be denial, followed by a request for complaining pax boarding pass and ID to be copied 'for our records', plus a suggestion that pax make a formal complaint (which the TSA will never acknowledge or address).

I do find it encouraging that in at least some rare instances, like this one, TSA appears to get on the cameras immediately and resolve a problem in a timely manner.

I have to wonder if it's because it was someone who hadn't been paying their cut to management, though.

Yeah, he will going to jail for that. He won't accept work TSA for a long time. It's unacceptable for his behavior. He can't be steal the money from passenger. It's very wrong! It's very serious!

Isn't this the airport that was hiring people known to have criminal records? I can't see why that would be relevant, just an interesting coincidence. ;)

Also,
TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the money was returned to the passenger.
Lisa, dear, you forgot the bit about "TSA has zero tolerance for theft, once it's brought to our attention by passengers or someone else outside TSA. This incident in no way reflects on the 59,999 other fine, upstanding TSA employees who have not (yet) been caught doing anything illegal." :rolleyes:

Isn't this the airport that was hiring people known to have criminal records? I can't see why that would be relevant, just an interesting coincidence.

It's Norfolk...good luck finding potential employees without a criminal record...

Isn't this the airport that was hiring people known to have criminal records? I can't see why that would be relevant, just an interesting coincidence. ;)



It was Richmond VA (RIC) where the TSA demanded that the airport provide access to a convicted felon that was now a TSA employee.

Norfolk was where a passenger claimed that TSA stole her Rolex (video cameras not working that day), and also where the Assistant FSD was caught on video bypassing secondary screening.

Are you sure that the TSA agents had felony records rather than the TSA was required to allow airport workers with records to be given permits to work in the sterile area?

Recently the EEOC has clamped down on businesses' which have per se policies of not hiring people with criminal records. There has to be a nexus between the crime and the position, e.g. you can refuse to hire an embezzler as a bank teller, but Walmart couldn't refuse to hire a person witha vehicular homcide conviction as a cashier. I don't know how this applies to TSA, but I know that HR folks are having a real hard time believing this.

Here is the bulletin:

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/qa_arrest_conviction.cfm

Proving a violation of the policy, however, is tough. A perjurious HR employee can generally find a pretextual justification.

It was Richmond VA (RIC) where the TSA demanded that the airport provide access to a convicted felon that was now a TSA employee.

Norfolk was where a passenger claimed that TSA stole her Rolex (video cameras not working that day), and also where the Assistant FSD was caught on video bypassing secondary screening.

Ah, thanks, I'm having a hard time remembering which criminals are which. :eek:

Irwin pleaded guilty and will sentenced in December. He says he did it because the passenger had given his coworkers a hard time. Poor thing had his feelings hurt.

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/tsa-exagent-admits-theft-norfolk-passenger
"...Irwin initially denied to police any knowledge of the money, according to the court statement. He later told police he put the money in his locker, records state. In a statement to police, Irwin wrote, “when the passenger returned and I saw that it was the passenger who had given my fellow employees a hard time. I just didn’t let on that I had the money...”

Irwin pleaded guilty and will sentenced in December. He says he did it because the passenger had given his coworkers a hard time. Poor thing had his feelings hurt.

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/tsa-exagent-admits-theft-norfolk-passenger
"...Irwin initially denied to police any knowledge of the money, according to the court statement. He later told police he put the money in his locker, records state. In a statement to police, Irwin wrote, “when the passenger returned and I saw that it was the passenger who had given my fellow employees a hard time. I just didn’t let on that I had the money...”

It's unbelievable! The TSA feels it has the RIGHT to steal from passengers that give them a "hard time". This is TERRORISM and EXTORTION and should be charged and sentenced as such. This is much more than theft.

Some good news from Louis Hansen, about a TSO who retaliated against and stole from a passenger who opted-out:

The Virginian-Pilot
Judge sends TSA agent to jail for Norfolk airport theft
December 15, 2012 (http://hamptonroads.com/node/662307)

A short quote from the article:

A former TSA agent was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for stealing $520 from a passenger at Norfolk International Airport.

Circuit Judge Charles Poston sent former Transportation Security Administration supervisor John Irwin to jail for taking money from a screening tray while the passenger was being searched. Irwin, 60, had pleaded guilty to grand larceny.

The victim, a passenger from New York, was flying from Norfolk on Nov. 16, 2011, according to a stipulation of facts filed with the court. The passenger told a TSA agent that he had a medical condition and needed to be patted down, the report says.

Not enough of a jail sentence if you ask me as while some may think "oh, it's only $520 and 6 months in jail is fair", the book needs to be thrown at each and every TSA employee convicted of a crime as if that happens, maybe (n.b. maybe), the message will be sent and properly rec'd (and the bad apples slowly (n.b. slowly) weeded out.

Not enough of a jail sentence if you ask me as while some may think "oh, it's only $520 and 6 months in jail is fair", the book needs to be thrown at each and every TSA employee convicted of a crime as if that happens, maybe (n.b. maybe), the message will be sent and properly rec'd (and the bad apples slowly (n.b. slowly) weeded out.

More importantly, once again it appears that TSA did not weed out its own 'bad apple' - LE did.

When the news first broke, I thought perhaps the TSO was caught by a (surprising) immediate review of (working!) camera footage by TSA.

Instead, it looks like the pax had the good sense to complain to LE and ^^ to the LEOs who decided to follow up on the pax complaint, instead of asking for direction from the TSO.

Unbelievable that the guy tried to semi-exonerate himself by saying he was just doing it to punish the pax for giving his co-workers a hard time. Oh, well, that's all right then. I wonder if he planned to share the money with his injured colleagues to make them feel better?

Yes, goalie, as usual, I agree with you. These guys are in (by their own definition) a critical, life-or-death front line position of public trust, so they should be held to a much higher standard than the average shoplifter or opportunistic thief who does not jeopardize lives and aviation safety.

Not enough of a jail sentence if you ask me as while some may think "oh, it's only $520 and 6 months in jail is fair", the book needs to be thrown at each and every TSA employee convicted of a crime as if that happens, maybe (n.b. maybe), the message will be sent and properly rec'd (and the bad apples slowly (n.b. slowly) weeded out.

I don't know if 6 months is enough or not ...

... but keep in mind, this person has now been convicted of a felony, and will have to report same on every job application for the rest of his life. I expect that his job prospects will be limited for quite some time after his release from prison. That should be factored into any assessment of the "fairness" of the punishment.

I don't know if 6 months is enough or not ...

... but keep in mind, this person has now been convicted of a felony, and will have to report same on every job application for the rest of his life. I expect that his job prospects will be limited for quite some time after his release from prison. That should be factored into any assessment of the "fairness" of the punishment.

He should have thought about that before he decided to steal.

Fortunately for him, he's nearing retirement age and can start collecting SS in less than two years. He won't be impacted as dramatically as a younger man/woman committing the same crime and receiving the same sentence. Taking that into consideration, I am even more inclined to think his sentence should have been much longer.

Not enough of a jail sentence if you ask me as while some may think "oh, it's only $520 and 6 months in jail is fair", the book needs to be thrown at each and every TSA employee convicted of a crime as if that happens, maybe (n.b. maybe), the message will be sent and properly rec'd (and the bad apples slowly (n.b. slowly) weeded out.

I don't know if 6 months is enough or not ...

... but keep in mind, this person has now been convicted of a felony, and will have to report same on every job application for the rest of his life. I expect that his job prospects will be limited for quite some time after his release from prison. That should be factored into any assessment of the "fairness" of the punishment.No offense meant or intended :) but we all know how well being a convicted felon works out when the TSA has hired their fair share of them only to find out the truth after the fact ;). I still say throw the book at them no matter how small the crime to send a message as those in the public trust need to and must be held to much higher standards.