An American Airlines flight attendant is charged with possession of child pornography after allegedly trying to film a minor in an airplane bathroom. According to prosecutors, the American Airlines flight attendant allegedly has other videos of young girls while in lavatories aboard planes where he worked.
Charged with Child Pornography
Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested 37-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III on Thursday in Virginia. He is facing one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography.
Based on court documents, Thompson attempted to film a 14-year-old when she used the lavatory. The incident happened during her flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Boston.
Initially, Thompson stopped the teen from entering the bathroom. He told her that the toilet seat was broken. After which, she discovered a cell phone attached to the toilet seat. The teen’s father then confronted Thompson who locked himself inside the bathroom with his phone. The flight attendant allegedly stayed inside the bathroom for three to five minutes.
When the flight landed at Logan Airport, authorities said that Thompson’s phone had undergone a factory reset.
The police then checked Thompson’s iCloud account. Authorities discovered possession of 4 other videos of a child using the airplane bathroom. In addition to this, authorities also discovered 50 images of a 9-year-old girl including pictures of her sleeping.
The police also said that they found hundreds of AI-generated child sex abuse images on Thompson’s iCloud account.
In a statement, acting US Attorney Josh Levy said, “The deeply disturbing conduct alleged here is something no parent or child should ever have to worry about when they travel. Mr. Thompson allegedly used his position to prey on and surreptitiously record innocent children, including unaccompanied minors, while in a vulnerable state aboard flights he was working.”
Passenger Sued American Airlines
The 14-year-old who allegedly discovered Thompson’s phone filed a case against American Airlines. She claims that Thompson destroyed the evidence after the crew failed to confiscate the phone in question.
The 14-year-old’s lawyer, Paul Llewellyn said, “We are pleased to hear that the American Airlines flight attendant has finally been arrested. It is also shocking to hear that he allegedly preyed on at least five minors while they were flying on American. While the criminal justice system must now run its course against the flight attendant, it remains to be seen whether American Airlines will now finally take some measure of responsibility to the families for what happened. This should never have been allowed to happen and must never happen again.”
American Airlines said that Thompson no longer worked for them after the incident. In a statement, the airline said, “We take these allegations very seriously. They don’t reflect our airline or our core mission of caring for people.”
