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Old Jun 9, 2008 | 10:45 am
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dhuey
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When Federal Air Marshals go bad...

If anyone wants to see the details of a FAM's firing, and unsuccessful legal challenge to his firing, see http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/08-3009.pdf

From the opinion (my emphasis):

First, the AJ [administrative judge] found preponderant evidence in the record establishing that Mr. Ayres had committed the misconduct alleged in the agency’s charges against him. The AJ sustained the agency’s first charge of conduct unbecoming a Federal Air Marshal based on the testimony and affidavits of various witnesses. Michael Masucci, an elementary school principal in Poland Village, Ohio, testified that in February of 2003 Mr. Ayres acted in an intimidating and threatening manner when told that he could not accompany his son on a school field trip, after which the police were dispatched to the school to defuse the situation. Dr. Robert Zorn, superintendant of the Poland Spring School District, testified that in February of 2003 Mr. Ayres appeared unannounced in his office in an angry and hostile manner, demanding the telephone number of the State of Ohio school superintendant and mentioning that he was an Air Marshal who carried a gun. Dr. Zorn further testified that Mr. Ayres later attended a school board meeting in March of 2003, behaving in a challenging and intimidating manner and raising a concern by Dr. Zorn that Mr. Ayres may have carried a gun into the meeting. Affidavits by Ted Hresko and Lee Tracy indicated that in May of 2003, Mr. Ayres called the Federal Air Marshal Mission Operation Center threatening to contact the head of the Transportation Security Administration in connection with a dispute over a work schedule change. Police officer Michael Bettikofer testified that in February of 2004, Mr. Ayres threatened him and prematurely left the site of a routine traffic stop. Paula McFarland and Russell Beatty testified that Mr. Ayres had demanded that the police department take care of his ticket for a seatbelt violation. Finally, affidavits by Ted Hresko and Lee Tracy indicated that an audit in April of 2004 revealed that Mr. Ayres had arrived late for 31 out of 39 scheduled flights, or 79.5% of the time.
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