Posted on 01/22/2012 7:22:39 AM PST by IbJensen
Steal $40,000 from a bank, and you’ll spend a decade or two in prison. Steal $40,000 from an airplane passenger’s luggage and you’ll get six months — if you’re a Transportation Security Administration employee, that is.
On January 10, 44-year-old Coumar Persad and 31-year-old Davon Webb, eight-year veterans of the TSA force at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, were sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation after pleading guilty to having stolen $40,000 from a passenger’s suitcase in January 2011. At the time of the men’s arrest, authorities told CBS New York that the suspects had apparently helped themselves to passengers’ possessions before, Persad having allegedly admitted to prior instances.
Indeed, it does appear that they had a system worked out in advance of the 2011 incident. Persad spotted the cash while X-raying the bag, which was destined for Buenos Aires. He told Webb to mark the bag with tape so they could easily find it later — which they did, removing as much cash as they could fit into their pockets. (There was $170,000 in all, belonging to a woman authorities have been unable to contact in Argentina; they believe she may have been a drug courier who was killed because of the missing money.) Investigators said they were able to recover all but $20 of the stolen money from the two men’s homes.
The extremely light sentence meted out to Persad and Webb has raised some eyebrows. A $40,000 theft, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley points out, “would constitute grand larceny, but they were given a sentence that falls on the border with a misdemeanor.”
“In New York,” Turley explains, “grand larceny applies for crimes with any theft over $1,000. This would be 40 times that amount.” He goes on to list the Empire State’s maximum sentences for such a crime, ranging from four years for grand larceny in the fourth degree to 25 years for grand larceny in the first degree. Yet Persad and Webb got a mere six months behind bars.
Meanwhile, just last August three men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 19 years for robbing a First National Bank in Houston, Texas, and making off with over $40,000 — about the same amount Persad and Webb purloined. Even the unarmed getaway car driver, who did not enter the bank, got over 11 years. True, these sentences were harsher than they might otherwise have been because the three robbers were particularly cruel and abusive, and two later took hostages in a nearby apartment building; but still, the difference between their sentences and those given to Persad and Webb is enormous.
Turley recounts other cases where similar crimes by persons not employed by the government have resulted in much harsher sentences: “For example, a rapper who stole a purse with $6000 was given a seven year sentence. I would put two TSA officers stealing $40,000 as a bit more serious than a ramped up purse snatching. Even [a] singing rabbi got one to three years for stealing $36,000 from a woman.”
“I fail to understand why, even with a plea, these men were given such a light sentence,” Turley writes. But really, it’s no mystery. The simple fact of the matter is that being employed by the government tends to insulate one from the legal consequences of his behavior. Police officers who mistreat the people they are supposed to be protecting and serving often end up merely being put on “administrative leave” while their departments conduct investigations that — more often than not — find that the officers did nothing wrong. Military employees and contractors who brutalize detainees are given cover by Presidents, who, in turn, are not prosecuted by their successors. Even just being well connected in Washington is enough to escape prosecution, as witness Congress’ retroactive grant of immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperated with the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping of Americans’ phone calls. In fact, about the only surefire way for a government employee to be hounded by the law as a civilian would is to rat on the government. Uncle Sam doesn’t like stool pigeons any better than the Mob does; just ask Pfc. Bradley Manning.
One more lesson to be drawn from this incident: If you must fly, don’t put anything valuable in your checked luggage. You may never see it again.
Make it easy on yourselves- work for the government. Want your student loans forgiven?Work for the government. Want a job where you can’t be fired? Be a public employee. Want a better deal than the run-of-the-mill working stiff, supported by that working stiff? Work for the government.
I bet these two magpies get their jobs back.
“So the TSA agents had a scheme worked out to mark “interesting” bags for latter theft of contents. There are several interesting angles in this story beyond the theft of $40K. One is apparently the TSA does not bother with security cameras in its baggage handling area as these “professional agents” felt very comfortable in stuffing themselves with as much cash as they could fit. “
That is pretty strange, because about the only place in an airport where you won’t be on at least one video monitor is the toilet. For now.
In any place where valuables/money are involved, there have been TV camera/one-way glass installations FOR YEARS. I worked at a company where a subsidiary made fare boxes for buses/etc. They told me those rooms where the boxes were opened were set up that way because it had been proven that constant exposure to large amounts of money/valuables would cause even formerly dead honest people to steal.
Obviously, more funding is needed for more cameras, because everything we’ve done so far was done on the cheap.
“TSA guys used their Federal assigned responsibilities to do the crime...This should carry a multiplier effect - not a divider effect.”
Valid point. I won’t argue too hard for TSA, so I’m done.
Does anybody understand the simple words, “plea bargain” anymore. Does anyone know that most cases never actually get to the courts? The majority are always pleaded out. The guys that robbed a bank probably didn’t accept a plea bargain and thought they could do better with a jury. It is a darn good thing I am on this site because some of you don’t understand anything about the courts.
Never confuse The Law with Justice.
Cops confiscate Drugs, Guns and Money all the time. TSA are cops. Nothing to see here, move along.....
so is the IRS and Congress...
after serving 6mos I am sure they will get their jobs back:)
I googled “steeling $10,000.” and randomly came up with this the following for TN.
jail time for a theft offense. ... $1000-$10000, Class D felony (2-12 years in prison and up to $5000 in fines) ...
All the more reason to keep services out of the hands of the Goverment. At least there their is a better chance that the Goverment will render “justice” more impartially not having a stake in the matter.
PS: We really do need to get into the practice of going after all the Federal Goverment agents that either acted unlawfully on their own or carried out unlawful orders given by the previous administration.
Enforcement of the law starts with the agents who took the oath. We cannot afford to have any agent of a Constitutional Civil Goverment blindly “follow orders”.
My wife "had to have" a very expensive luggage set. I about gagged when I saw the price tag (over $200 per piece). I use my grandfather's green canvas WWII parachute bag. I travel a lot and my wife travels maybe twice a year. I have never had my bag messed with (I use a bread tie/tie that I braid in a manner that tells me if someone has opened it) and my wife gets her bag opened every other trip (once it looked like someone had dumped the contents and just stuffed it all back in).
I"m a firm believer in camouflage.
The last two time I flew I have had my suitcases damaged by the TSA. First time they took off the locks (TSA-certified). The second time they removed the zipper pulls that were locked (again with TSA-certified locks). I went out to their website and they essentially said they're not responsible. So the lesson here is don't lock your suitcase unless you want it to be ruined.
All but $20 was recovered according to the story.
NYPD must have had a heck of a party since it was drug money and the "owner" was killed.
No mention if the person (possible drug mule) “Declared the full Amount” as required by law.
When I traveled to Australia, and New Zealand, sign’s all over the place, citing the U.S., Australia, New Zealand law’s.
Never forget when I first saw Schumer when he became a Senator. Sleaze oozed from his pores. It was so obvious, he was pretty much a cartoon of what is wrong in Washington. Could not believe he got into the Senate and still am amazed he remains.
She may sit at the top of TSA but her overhang is stifling.
Incompetano is typical of the homosexuals and other assorted perverts with which Obozo stuffed his top posts.
How the voters of Arizona elected this elephantine butch their governor is another amazing act of stupendous stupidity!
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