Surveillance footage at Miami International Airport has captured two Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, Josue Gonzalez (20) and Labarrius Williams (33), allegedly stealing from passengers’ hand luggage at the airport’s E checkpoint. In one video clip, the agents can be seen focusing on a certain bag, and then see one of them put his hand in his pocket shortly after.
According to the police report, the pair is accused of taking $600 from a passenger’s wallet while the passenger was going through the screening process. Travelers expressed surprise and concern about the incident, with one passenger mentioning that he trusted TSA to handle his belongings safely.
Josue Gonzalez and Labarrius Williams were arrested and charged with these thefts in July. The police report alleges that they distracted passengers during the screening process to steal money from their belongings.
TSA, in a statement, confirmed that the officers have been removed from screening duties while the investigation is ongoing and that they have a zero-tolerance policy for misconduct in the workplace.
In addition to the two agents seen in the video, a third worker, Elizabeth Fuster (22), was arrested later in connection with an organized scheme to defraud. Charges were dropped against Elizabeth Fuster.
This incident involving airport staff stealing from passengers’ luggage occurred in June of this year.