An American Airlines flight attendant accused of recording multiple young girls in airplane bathrooms was arrested on Thursday by federal agents in Virginia. According to the New York Post, 36-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III was caught red-handed in September last year by a 14-year-old girl he attempted to secretly film in a plane restroom. The girl discovered the iPhone affixed to a toilet seat, with a large sticker that said the seat was broken to partially conceal the device.
The 36-year-old was arrested Thursday by the FBI and charged with sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. According to the Post, prosecutors said investigators also discovered videos of four other girls, ages 7, 9, 11 and 14, using the facilities on planes where Thompson worked.
The flight attendant was working aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts on September 2, 2023, when he tried to film the 14-year-old girl in the restroom. He approached the girl while she waited for an occupied bathroom in the main cabin and escorted her to an unoccupied first-class bathroom, according to Fox59. Before the girl went in, Thompson allegedly told her that he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken before he briefly entered the bathroom.
After the flight attendant came out of the restroom, the young girl entered and noticed red stickers underneath the toilet seat lid with handwritten words that stated "INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT" and "REMOVE FROM SERVICE," and "SEAT BROKEN".
When the 14-year-old turned to flush the toilet, she noticed an iPhone peeking out from behind the stickers. The girl then took a photo of the iPhone and the stickers before leaving, and Thompson allegedly entered the bathroom immediately after she exited. The victim showed the photo to her parents, following which her mother rushed to the lavatory to find the stickers and iPhone gone.
The parents alerted the captain who contacted authorities on the ground in Boston. The girl's father also confronted Thompson, who then locked himself in the bathroom with his phone for about five minutes before the plane landed.
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Law enforcement on the ground met with the flight attendant and asked to search his iPhone. Police who searched Thompson's phone suspected he restored the phone to factory setting. However, a search of his phone's iCloud revealed that he had recorded young girls using the plane's toilet at least four different times.
According to Fox59, cops also found more than 50 photos of a 9-year-old, including images of her behind and close-ups taken while she was sleeping during a flight, as well as AI-generated child sex abuse material. A search of his suitcase also found the stickers the 14-year-old girl had observed.
Immediately after the September incident, Thompson was pulled from American Airlines service and has not worked since, the airline said. "We take these allegations very seriously. 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," an American Airlines spokesperson said, as per the outlet.
Thompson is now facing a maximum of 50 years in prison, a potential lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
