TSA agent plunders $50K in electronics, caught shoving iPad in pants

July 9, 2011 By Mike Flacy

Have you ever lost something from your bag after checking it at the airport? The TSA gives us another reason to diligently guard portable electronics in our carry-on luggage.

Arrested in Terminal One of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, former US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent Nelson Santiago-Serrano was caught with stolen property in his pants. An employee of Continental watched Santiago-Serrano take an iPad out of a piece of luggage and stuff the Apple device into his pants. After alerting authorities, Santiago-Serrano was taken into custody. He told authorities that he had stolen $50,000 dollars worth of electronics including computers, video cameras, GPS units and other various devices.

Once Santiago-Serrano pilfered a new item, he listed the item online and typically sold it before his shift ended. Thirty-year-old Santiago-Serrano worked for the TSA for the last 30 months, but was fired by the TSA after being charged with two counts of grand theft. The sheriff’s office is attempting to locate victims of Santiago-Serrano’s actions. Santiago-Serrano was released Tuesday on a $4,000 bond.

This isn’t the first time a TSA agent was arrested for theft of personal property. In June, former TSA agent Paul Yashou was arrested for stealing personal property at Terminal One of the Los Angeles International Airport. Yashou actions were discovered by a tip from an Orange County pawn shop. It’s estimated Yashou stole $30,000 of property in his nine years as a TSA agent. Former TSA agents Karla Morgan and Dawn Nikole Keka were arrested for stealing money from luggage planted by authorities in a sting operation. Former TSA agents Persad Coumar and Davon Webb were also caught stealing money from bags and police found $40,000 of loose bills at their homes. Coumar and Webb claim to have stolen $160,000 in property while working at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Santiago-Serrano’s actions serve as a reminder to all travelers to repeatedly check belongings for expensive portable electronics as well as any traveling money when traveling via plane. Other tips include using padded notebook pockets in luggage, laptop locks and online laptop tracking.

Showing 9 comments

Trevor at 8:03am 11th July 2011 So thats what "security experience" means They're paid to molest, steal, predudize, and technically forced penetration in some instances(similarly defined as a rectal scan). I trust a rapist thats lonely in a small cell more than these guys..
I refuse to fly. at 10:44am 10th July 2011 Most security people and military mercenary contractors hired these days are ex-convicts or not yet convicted pervs and thieves. Unfortunately for the law abiding people. the convicts and criminal have taken over, and not just in our government.
max at 9:12pm 9th July 2011 Why do they keep doing that when it is the most common way a person can get caught? http://black1blue.blogspot.com/
1. Trevor at 8:04am 11th July 2011 because they hire common people
Sommer Gentry at 8:35pm 9th July 2011 The 500 or more thieves and criminals in the TSA's ranks (and those are just the ones we've caught!) invalidate the "security" that TSA pretends to provide. If you're a dishonest TSA screener out for money who can sneak things out of passengers' bags, then you're a dishonest TSA screener out for money who can sneak things into passengers' bags. Things like bombs. The TSA truly is the biggest danger to the security of aviation, as has already been demonstrated by the TSA screener who took bribes to help drug smugglers avoid security. How did that TSA criminal know they were drugs and not bombs? Answer: she didn't, and she's a far bigger risk to the aircraft than any 95-year-old cancer victim's diaper. Molesting children isn't going to keep you safe, America. Keeping the low-wage criminals of the TSA away from your property and your body will make you much, much safer. Why aren't we using the naked body scanners on TSA screeners themselves every day when they leave work? Just look at the numbers: there's a far greater probability that a screener is a thief than that a passenger is a terrorist. Let's turn some of that paranoia around onto the people who are really a threat to our security.
1. Trevor Whitlock at 10:13am 11th July 2011 here here!!!
PeepingTom at 2:11pm 9th July 2011 Here's a thought, TSA, quit hiring idiots and thieves! People who are paying to (be bent over when we) travel should not have to worry about TSA employees stealing from us, Fcuk, get a clue. If you caught 10 people that means there are likely MANY more who are still doing it. And you are going to be "securing" our bus and train stations as well? Oh joy.
1. sepepper at 6:33am 10th July 2011 got a better idea, courtesy of Ron Paul: DEFUND and END the TSA altogether-- they are NOT about looking for "AL QAEDA", "AL SHABAB", or any other "AL's"-- they're ALL about shaking down law abiding citizens for fabulous prizes, and "getting their grope on" all for the singular purpose of "training the sheeple" to get us all ready for the FEMA concentration camps!
2. AwolZAB at 10:30am 20th July 2011 ...quit hiring idiots and thieves AND GROPING PERVs! TSA is nothing more than a collection of thugs, thieves and sexual deviants