TSA agents accused of stealing at Miami Airport security screening

Video from the checkpoint showed two agents appear to take valuables from bags in Miami International Airport. Photo / Miami-Dade County

TSA agents have allegedly been caught stealing travellers’ belongings from bags according to surveillance footage from Miami International Airport.

In a 20-minute selection of footage, taken on July 29, agents at the security screening appear to open bags and take valuable items as they go through the CT scanner.

Video from the checkpoint showed two agents appear to take valuables from bags at Miami International Airport. Photo / Miami-Dade County

The three agents, Elizabeth Fuster, 22, Josue Gonzalez, 20, and Labarrius Williams, 33, were arrested in July and hit with the charge of an ‘organised scheme to defraud’, the Independent reported. However, charges against Fuster were allegedly dropped.

Several clips show Gonzalez and Williams pulling items out of bags and then appearing to pocket them.

At one point, one agent is seen opening a bag on the conveyor belt, removing a wallet, and then putting his hand which held the wallet, into his pocket.

The alleged thefts were all the more brazen considering the amount of surveillance at airport security checkpoints.

“I think they have a lot of nerve because don’t they realize they’re on camera?” passenger David Caban said on CBS News. “These are places that are monitored so much. What are they thinking?”

The pair have been accused of stealing US$600 ($1000) from a passenger’s wallet, according to a police report shared by CBS, which stated the pair would “distract passengers as they were being screened to steal monies from their belongings”.

In a statement about the thefts, TSA said they had removed officers from screening duties until the investigation was complete and administrative actions had been taken.

“The Transportation Security Administration holds its Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) to the highest professional and ethical standards and has no tolerance for misconduct in the workplace,” said the statement

“We actively and aggressively investigated these allegations of misconduct and presented our findings to the Miami Dade Police Department, and are working closely with them.”

Employees who didn’t meet TSA’s “fundamental ethical standards” would be held accountable, it added.