N830MH

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro...0,610272.story

This guy that he didn't got away for this. The police were looking for him. He was being caught at TSA checkpoint in the entire terminal 4. He was flying on Spirit, but he was boarding the flight to DFW. They discovered 50 credit cards, ID and etc. He was arrested on charges with ID theft, Credit card fraud, and etc.

FliesWay2Much

Having been an identity theft victim myself, one part of me wants this guy to rot you-know-where. Another part of me wants him to get a very good lawyer who will challenge the "administrative search" crap with an eye towards, as a minimum, getting the evidence thrown out. I suppose the clerks will say under oath (and get away with it) that they were looking for credit card knives.

DeafBlonde

I also hope he gets the maximum punishment. I do think that TSA, in this case, did the right thing.

It would be different if the credit cards were valid and had all belonged to him. If that were case, I would hope he would find a good lawer and open up a big ol' can of whup-a$$!

goalie

Agreed on all points ^ (tho it was goalie-dad and not me who was the victim of identity theft)

shenxing

Can you hide a knife by encoding it onto a credit card magnetic strip?

FliesWay2Much

I'm sure the clerks will claim that you can. My comment about a good defense attorney included asking questions such as these under cross examination.

Swissaire

A passenger travelling with 50 credit cards, all in a bundle, would be highly suspect.

Glad to hear that TSA did the right thing and checked the mag strip.

II wonder if any of the cards went missing on flights ?

InkUnderNails

OK, glad he has been stopped.

However, there is a part of me screaming inside my brain that using the administrative search to discover evidence of criminal activity that can be used at a trial to deprive him of his liberty is wrong.

I am a consultant. I carry a pile of business cards tied up with a rubber band. Likewise, all of my hotel, airline, rental car, insurance, AAA and other cards are stored in another small brick of cards. My fear is that this big catch makes my little bricks a target of harassment.

Someone talk me down and convince me I am wrong.

relangford

TSA can read magnetic stripes on credit cards? I suspect it was law enforcement after TSA notified them. Are TSA "officers"?

AA_EXP09

It's not exactly difficult to get a magnetic stripe reader.
On the other hand, I am also surprised that the ID thief didn't want to use the stolen CCs to fly a better airline.

shenxing

The point is that they didn't suspect the cards were stolen until *after* they scanned the stripes/searched his wallet. The mere presence of a lot of cards in your possession shouldn't be cause for alarm by an airport clerk nor sufficient probable cause for a search by a regular policemen.

YEGcg

Per the news article: "Guillaume had no explanation for having so many credit cards in one man's name."

1) a TWENTY THREE year old was carrying FIFTY credit cards.

2) the surname on the cards is KATTA and the suspects surname is GUILLAUME.

3) the suspect had no explanation about the quantity of cards. Not: "I like getting the sign up bonuses, UNDER SOMEONE ELSES NAME", nor "I just never cut up my old cards; I keep them TO PROVE THAT I HAVE SOMEONE ELSES CREDIT CARDS". He had no explanation.

4) sounds like the TSA folks spotted something and looked into it further. AND one of them had a enough conscience to stall the suspect while they looked into it even more. (Re: stalled the suspect for enough time to look at APBs, etc.) - wouldn't you like it if someone got caught with FIFTY credit cards in your name?

So, TSA +1 (I NEVER thought I would post that!)

tkey75

TSA, after determining that the cc's we're not a weapon, should have sent him on his way. I'd rather this one criminal go free (for now - there are other means to catch him already in place that don't violate his rights) than countless innocent people be harassed.

UrbaneGent

My garbage man took my identity, bought himself two cars, opened a handful of credit cards and even got his teeth done. Awful. To this day, those personal "security questions" asked get mixed up with his and to this day I get blocked from my accessing my own credit business.

As for this guy - hypothetical, if the police pull over a guy and get his cell phone, they can't look through it for telephone numbers, etc. They would have to bag it and get a search warrant. I wonder if this applies for this case here. Would it been better for TSA to confiscate, hold him and just give it to police to get a warrant? I can't imagine TSA having more rights with a stack of credit cards.

Or is this like cash? If I am caught with more than $100,000 cash while traveling internationally, I would have to answer for that. The metal stripes on the cash set off the alarms. I have traveled with gold bricks (they are very heavy, 27 lbs) that show up solid black on the x-ray machines, airport security would open the bag, see it, and send me on my way, very few questions asked.

More useless info: Solid lead crystal shows up solid black on x-ray machines as well...

mikeef

I agree. And it pains me to say this, since I can only imagine what victims of identity thieves go through. I used to work at a bank and the cases where people had their identities stolen turned their lives upside-down in ways that I couldn't have even imagined.

Mike