Joe Raedle/Getty Images
- A flight attendant was arrested Thursday on suspicion of filming minors in plane bathrooms.
- A DOJ press release says the suspect, Estes Carter Thompson III, is facing two criminal charges.
- A 14-year-old's family accused Thompson of hiding a camera in a toilet during a September flight.
A 36-year-old American Airlines flight attendant was arrested Thursday on two charges related to claims he'd filmed a minor using an airplane bathroom, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said.
Estes Carter Thompson III was charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
A press release from the Department of Justice released Thursday says the claims involve an American Airlines flight to Boston from Charlotte, North Carolina, in September.
The DOJ cited charging documents alleging that during the flight Thompson directed a 14-year-old girl to the first-class bathroom before saying he needed to go in first to wash his hands.
According to the press release, when the girl entered she was said to have found an iPhone stuck to the inside of the toilet seat's lid under a handwritten sign that said "SEAT BROKEN."
Lewis & Llewellyn LLP
The girl was then said to have shown her mother a photo of the concealed phone, with her parents telling other flight attendants, who told the flight's captain, who notified law enforcement.
The victim's dad was said to have confronted Thompson during the flight, which the DOJ press release suggested might have prompted Thompson to try to wipe his phone — when the plane arrived in Boston, authorities apparently observed that the phone might have been restored to factory settings.
Authorities then went on to search Thompson's iCloud account, however, and they were said to have found four other recordings of minors using an aircraft bathroom from January to August of last year, per the DOJ.
It added that 50 pictures of an unaccompanied minor on a plane and hundreds of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse were also found on Thompson's iCloud.
American Airlines said in a statement that Thompson had not worked for the airline since the September incident. It's unclear from the statement whether he's still employed by the airline.
"We take these allegations very seriously," the airline said. "They do not reflect our airline or our core mission of caring for people. We have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation, as there is nothing more important than the safety and security of our customers and team."
If found guilty on both charges, Thompson could face 20 to 50 years in prison.
"What Mr. Thompson is accused of doing is disgraceful," said Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston field office, "and we believe, calculated, given that this alleged conduct occurred on at least five flights."
Paul Llewellyn, an attorney representing the girl's family in their civil lawsuit against American Airlines, said the family is happy that police arrested Thompson.
"It is also shocking to hear that he allegedly preyed on at least five minors while they were flying on American," Llewellyn told BI in a statement. "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."
BI was unable to reach Thompson for comment.