BOSTON – An American Airlines flight attendant has been arrested after a girl reportedly caught him trying to record her in an airplane lavatory, prompting investigators to search his iCloud account, according to the the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was arrested Thursday in Lynchburg, Virginia, a news release describes.
American Airlines flight 1441 took off from Charlotte en route to Boston on Sept. 2, 2023, investigators said. About midway through, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly approached by Thompson after she had waited a while for the lavatory in the main cabin. Thompson told the girl that the first-class bathroom was unoccupied, yet after escorting her there he said that he needed to wash his hands, adding the toilet’s seat was broken, and entered the lavatory for a moment, prosecutors said.
Once inside, the victim observed an iPhone that had been concealed with red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, using her own phone to take a picture of it and returning to her seat to tell and show her parents what she saw, the release states. Thompson re-entered the bathroom immediately once the girl had left it, later locking himself inside of it for several minutes prior to descent after the victim’s father allegedly confronted him, prosecutors said.
Other flight attendants had since been notified as well as the flight’s captain, who informed law enforcement on the ground, according to the release.
By the time Thompson was questioned by law enforcement at Boston Logan International Airport, it’s believed he may have restored his phone to factory settings — no call logs, text messages, photos or videos — telling Massachusetts State Police that the phone was new despite a trooper noting it appeared used, prosecutors said. However, investigators soon found that the phone was linked with Thompson’s iCloud account, the release states.
A search warrant for Thompson’s suitcase was executed Sept. 19 and turned up the same red stickers observed by the victim in the toilet, prosecutors said. The next day, Thompson’s iPhone was submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to its own search warrant. On it, investigators allegedly discovered “what appear to be four additional instances other than that involving” the victim of the Sept. 2 flight, according to the criminal complaint.
The four other recordings were made during Thompson’s shifts on American Airlines flight 1617 from Charlotte to Denver on Aug. 23, 2023; American Airlines flight 2080 flying from Orlando to Charlotte on Aug. 15, 2023; American Airlines flight 1615 flying from Charlotte to Kansas City on July 26, 2023; and American Airlines flight 2869 flying from Austin to Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2023, the complaint states.
The children in these videos range in age from 7 to 14 years old, investigators said. All of their families have since been notified by authorities, the release states.
Hundreds of images were also allegedly located within the iCloud account, many of them being extracted frames from the videos, close-ups of a minor sleeping on a flight and child pornography “created through an artificial intelligence (’AI’) website,” the complaint adds.
Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said that Thompson had been arrested for repeatedly targeting unsuspecting children to sexually exploit them for his own gratification.
“What Mr. Thompson is accused of doing is disgraceful, and we believe, calculated, given that this alleged conduct occurred on at least five flights,” said Jodi Cohen, FBI Boston Division. “This case should make it crystal clear that the FBI takes crimes aboard aircraft and the sexual exploitation of children seriously. If you’ve been the victim of a crime aboard an aircraft or have witnessed one take place, we ask you to report it to both your flight crew and the FBI.”
Thompson faces charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. He’s to remain in custody pending his first court appearance in the Western District of Virginia before appearing in federal court at a later date in Boston, the attorney’s office said.
Thompson faces a sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted of attempted sexual exploitation of children and 5 to 20 years regarding the charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, according to the release. Each charge would also lead to at least 5 years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution, the release states.
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