If you'd spend any time reading my remarks on this forum, you'll find that I both defend and criticize TSA. I'm not a blind critic, or a blind defender.

And I've read about TSOs doing much worse. Shall we talk about the (former) TSO in PHL who decided back in January that planting drugs in a passenger's carry-on was "funny"? Shall we talk about the TSO who stole money from a passenger in a wheelchair, who was powerless to stop it, and then tried to cover it up later? Shall we talk about the TSO who confiscated the two-inch toy gun from a child's GI Joe toy as a "dangerous weapon"?

So, is the OP's scenario plausible? Absolutely. Common practice? I would hope not. But, as a rule, I don't rule anything out.