An American Airlines flight attendant was arrested Thursday after secretly filming a 14-year-old girl in the plane’s bathroom.
The event occurred in early September on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston, Massachusetts.
Aged 36, Ester Carter Thompson III also recorded images of four other underage passengers, according to what the “New York Post” reported.
The passenger got up to use the toilet in the main cabin near her seat, but it was occupied at the time, according to the New York tabloid.
It was then that Mr. Thompson approached the passenger to tell her that the first class toilets were open and that’s where the problem was discovered.
“Mr. Thompson allegedly used his position to prey on innocent children, including unaccompanied minors, and surreptitiously film them,” a prosecutor said.
The flight attendant who was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia, faces charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse images.
He remains in custody ahead of his initial appearance in Virginia’s Western District Court, before appearing in federal court in Boston at a later date.
The 30-year-old faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, possible supervised release for life and a hefty fine of up to US$250,000.
