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You need to see the video at the news site; a real eye opener!
Judge sends TSA agent to jail for Norfolk airport theft
NORFOLK
A former TSA agent was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for stealing $520 from a passenger at Norfolk International Airport.
Circuit Judge Charles Poston sent former Transportation Security Administration supervisor John Irwin to jail for taking money from a screening tray while the passenger was being searched. Irwin, 60, had pleaded guilty to grand larceny.
The victim, a passenger from New York, was flying from Norfolk on Nov. 16, 2011, according to a stipulation of facts filed with the court. The passenger told a TSA agent that he had a medical condition and needed to be patted down, the report says.
The man emptied his pockets and placed a pen and $520 cash in a gray bin. An agent told the passenger he needed additional screening. The passenger objected but followed the agent to a private area, the report states.
Irwin took the pen and money from the bin and put it into a drawer, the report says. When the passenger returned and asked about his money, Irwin said he hadn't seen or heard anything about it. The passenger reported the incident to Norfolk airport police, the report says.
Irwin had recognized the passenger as the man who had given his fellow employees a "hard time," the report says. "I just didn't let on that I had the money," Irwin told police.
In court, defense attorney Michael S. Davis argued Irwin was stressed by family and financial problems and had a rare lapse of judgment. Davis said his client worked at the TSA for several years and had no criminal record. Irwin apologized in court.
But prosecutor Suzanne Richmond told the judge that Irwin was in uniform when he stole the money. She said Irwin told investigators he was mad at the passenger for complaining about the additional screening. "This is not a normal case," she said.
Louis Hansen, 757-446-2341, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com [1]