Media personality battling breast cancer posts 'humiliating' TSA search on Facebook

http://abc7ny.com/news/radio-host-battling-breast-cancer-posts-humiliating-tsa-search/1641467/

A New York woman battling breast cancer says that what happened to her during a TSA search while traveling should never happen to anyone.

Denise Albert says she has never felt so violated.

"It's a feeling that I just never expect to ever experience," Albert said.

The mother of two, who has been quite public about her battle with breast cancer, posted that humiliating experience on Facebook. For the past three years, she's been the host of show called "The MOMS with Denise and Melissa" on radio and TV.

She says Sunday night at LAX, TSA agents aggressively tried to do a body cavity search - in public.

This all happened after she informed them of the metal port on her chest and the medical cream in her bag.

"Her hands were shoving up me, and she went around me and down my pants in the back. And then when she tried to put her hands in my shirt is when I said, 'enough,'" Albert said.

Albert complied with the agents request to take off her shoes, but she didn't want to put her bare feet on the floor because of open sores and rashes from her cancer treatment.
"After having looked at the TSA website, they were not allowed to ask me to take my shoes off because I had a medical condition that I told them about," Albert said.

At one point, out of sheer frustration, she took off her wig, a move she rarely does in public.

Albert says the whole ordeal could have been handled so much better.

"I actually want those people fired because they didn't follow any protocol and I think it was really a game for them," Albert said.

The 42-year-old has filed a formal complaint with the TSA. The agency informed her the matter will be investigated by supervisors at LAX.

The TSA released a statement Monday night saying, "The Transportation Security Administration takes reports of alleged impropriety very seriously. TSA is currently looking into the specific details as to what occurred during the screening process to ensure our security protocols were followed. We regret any discomfort the security screening process may have caused the passenger. We will work with the passenger directly to address her concerns."

On Tuesday, Albert announced that the TSA called her. "I'm very pleased with our conversation. They apologized for my experience and at this point there is an LAX investigation into what happened. They very aggressively train their agents on how to screen medical / disabilities. This was not at their expectations and a lot of disappointment they didn't get it right. They are going to refresh training at LAX 3000 employees," Albert posted on Facebook.

These people went through the TSA background check:

3 bag handlers at Vegas airport accused of looting luggage

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/feeds/canadian-press/world/3-bag-handlers-at-vegas-airport-accused-of-looting-luggage/article33988937/

Three contract baggage handlers at McCarran International Airport are facing felony criminal charges in what Las Vegas airport police described as a behind-the-scenes theft ring.

Las Vegas police Officer Laura Meltzer said Friday the recent arrests of Aaron Matthew Lopez and Jamarcus Domonique Harper, both 27, and 19-year-old Noah Javier Gonzalez, followed a two-week investigation of a man's Jan. 16 report that a gun was missing from his checked bag.

All three men face burglary, theft and stolen property charges.

Meltzer says the three worked for Worldwide Flight Services, a luggage handling firm for Allegiant and Frontier airlines at the airport.

She says police are still investigating the thefts.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2kyIAMD ) items taken included luxury purses and guns.

This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.

TSA Busted In Massive $100 Million, 40,000 Lb Cocaine Smuggling Conspiracy

TOPICS:ConspiracyIllegal DrugsJay SyrmopoulosTSA

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

By Jay Syrmopoulos

San Juan, Puerto Rico – In a case highlighting the infiltration of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) by transnational criminal organizations, twelve current and former TSA officers and airport staff were indicted for allegedly trafficking over 20 tons of cocaine — worth over $100 million — into the U.S. over an 18-years timeframe.

Last Wednesday, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the twelve defendants, who are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

From 1988 to 2016 the conspirators allegedly smuggled about 40,000 pounds, or twenty tons, of cocaine through Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and into the United States, according to the DOJ.

The DOJ press release detailed how the massive trafficking operation allegedly worked:

During the course of the conspiracy, the defendants smuggled suitcases, each containing at least 8 to 15 kilograms of cocaine, through the TSA security system at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (LMMIA). Sometimes as many as five mules were used on each flight, with each mule checking-in up to two suitcases. From 1998 through 2016, the defendants helped smuggle approximately 20 tons of cocaine through LMMIA.

Six current and former TSA employees, José Cruz-López, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo, Keila Carrasquillo, Carlos Rafael Adorno-Hiraldo, Antonio Vargas-Saavedra, and Daniel Cruz-Echevarría allegedly smuggled multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine while employed as TSA Officers at the San Juan airport.

Their full time responsibilities were to provide security and baggage screening for checked and carry-on luggage that was to be placed on outbound flights from the LMMIA. During the duration of the conspiracy, these TSA employees smuggled multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine through the TSA X-Ray machines within LMMIA and onto airplanes without detection.

“These individuals were involved in a conspiracy to traffic massive quantities of illegal narcotics to the continental United States,” said Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “These arrests demonstrate the success of the AirTAT initiative, which has successfully allocated a dedicated group of state and federal law enforcement officers, whose mission is to ensure that our airports are not used in the drug traffickers’ illicit businesses.”

Defendants Edwin Francisco Castro, Luis Vázquez-Acevedo and Ferdinand López are alleged to have operated as facilitators between drug trafficking organizations and the TSA employees who smuggled the cocaine into the airplanes. Defendant Miguel Ángel Pérez-Rodríguez, an airport security company employee, was a source of supply of cocaine to the drug trafficking organization, according to the superseding indictment.

The DOJ press release notes the strategic nature of the operation:

Defendant Javier Ortiz began assisting drug trafficking organizations as an employee of Airport Aviation Services (AAS) as a baggage handler/ramp employee. During the time of the conspiracy Ortiz used to pick up suitcases he knew contained cocaine from the mules at the airline check-in counter. Ortiz would then place the suitcases into the X-Ray machines being monitored by the TSA drug trafficking organization members, who cleared the suitcases.

After the suitcases had been cleared by TSA members, Ortiz took the suitcases to their designated flight, making sure no narcotic K-9 unit or law enforcement personnel were present when the suitcase went from the checkpoint to the airplane. Once the suitcases were loaded into the airplane, defendant Ortiz would make a phone call to a drug trafficking organization member indicating the all clear and the mules would then board the airplane. Ortiz also paid the TSA employees for clearing the suitcases through TSA security.

Defendant Tomas Dominguez-Rohena assisted the drug trafficking organization by taking the suitcases he knew contained cocaine after they had been cleared by TSA members or smuggled passed security to their designated flight. Defendant José Gabriel López-Mercado was a mule for the criminal organization.

“This investigation was initiated by TSA as part of its efforts to address employee misconduct and specific insider threat vulnerabilities. TSA has zero tolerance for employees engaged in criminal activity to facilitate contraband smuggling,” said José Baquero, federal security director for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, in the Monday press release.

The indictment was a result of an internal TSA investigation by the Airport Investigations and Tactical Team (AirTAT), a 2-year-old multi-agency initiative.

If convicted, the defendants face prison terms of between 10-years to life in prison.

Not surprisingly, this is the second such bust of TSA officials in only 2 years for transporting massive amounts of cocaine.

In November 2015, three former TSA agents were indicted on charges of defrauding the government and smuggling cocaine.

According to the indictment, 35-year-old Joseph Scott, 32-year-old Michael Castaneda, and 27-year-old Jessica Scott, all former TSA agents at San Francisco International Airport, were involved in an ongoing operation to help transport drugs through airport security.

Still feel safe with the TSA protecting the nation’s airports?

Jay Syrmopoulos writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.

http://www.activistpost.com/2017/02/...onspiracy.html

TSA allows Kennedy Airport passengers to walk through security checkpoint without being screened

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/tsa-jfk-passengers-bypass-security-checkpoint-article-1.2977418

No lines. No waiting. And no TSA screeners.

Eleven passengers strolled through a security lane without being screened at Kennedy Airport early Monday after Transportation Security Administration agents left the area unsupervised, law enforcement sources said.

Instead of following protocol and notifying Port Authority cops, it took the TSA two hours to tell police about the frightening breach, the sources add.

The unscreened passengers — three of whom set off a metal detector — didn’t even have to take off their shoes to get through security, according to a photo of two of the men obtained by the Daily News.

There was no one present to operate the magnetometer, the X-ray machine or to do pat-downs and secondary screening, the sources said.

“It’s scary that people could just walk in like that. It’s seems like something’s out of control here,” said Marie Ruiz-Martinez, 49, of Connecticut, who was at the airport to see her niece off to Puerto Rico.

The breach happened just after 6 a.m. at Jet Blue’s Terminal 5.

Rather than notifying the police, who are specifically trained to handle those situations, the TSA used its own agents to search for the unscreened passengers.

The two men depicted set off metal detectors but are not suspected of any wrongdoing.

“The TSA tried to mitigate the situation by sending their screeners through the terminal in violation of all the protocols,” a source said. “The protocol says law enforcement is immediately notified.”

When they were finally alerted, Port Authority cops flooded the terminal equipped with surveillance photos of the travelers, but none of them could be found, the sources said.

The three people who set off the metal detector all flew to California, a Port Authority official said. Records show there were four Jet Blue flights from Terminal 5 scheduled for California between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. — two to San Francisco and two to Los Angeles.

In a statement, the TSA said it was reviewing the incident.

“Early reports indicate three passengers did not receive required secondary screening after alarming the walk-through detector,” the agency said. “All personal carry-on bags received required screening.”

The Port Authority official said eight of the travelers hadn’t been identified by late Monday.

“Port Authority Police are continuing to assist federal authorities in efforts to identify and locate the other eight passengers,” the official said.

Julia Talcone, 32, who was traveling home to France with her 5-year-old son, Matthieum, said security should be better.

“If it could happen once, maybe it could happen again,” Talcone said.

“We’re living in dangerous times right now, a lot of things are happening worldwide,” she said. “Security should increase.”

Gavin Pruett, 20, traveling home to California, was alarmed by the security breach.

“You never know what people are thinking or what their motives are,” he said. “For someone to go unscreened, that’s kinda questionable. Especially at JFK.”

There was plenty of outrage to go around.

“What you have is 11 people, unscreened, who boarded unknown flights to unknown destinations,” a law enforcement source said. “This is the failure of the TSA to do its job.”

Rep. Pete King (R-Long Island) weighed in. “We are looking into it and trying to get more information,” he said, “but it is disturbing.”

A Port Authority police official confirmed the TSA’s two-hour delay in alerting cops.

“Port Authority Police attempted at approximately 8 a.m. today to locate 11 individuals who went through an unattended TSA PreCheck checkpoint at approximately 6 a.m. at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 5,” the official said.

“Those terminal searches, initiated when a TSA supervisor discovered and alerted Port Authority Police to the lapse, were unsuccessful, and it is believed the travelers in question boarded various flights.” The statement did not make clear whether there was anyone at the screening spot to look at the monitors as the bags went through the X-ray machine.

The TSA said it was “confident” the incident represented “no threat to the aviation transportation system.”

“TSA works with a network of security layers both seen and unseen,” the statement said. “Once our review is complete, TSA will discipline and retrain the employees as appropriate.”

TSA Rolls Out New Pat-Downs, Some Travelers Say They’re Invasive

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tsa-rolls-out-new-pat-downs-some-travelers-say-they-n729181

The Transportation Security Administration has rolled out changes to pat-downs at airports, which some travelers said resulted in more invasive screenings at airports.

The pat-downs don''t involve any additional areas of the body, and will still be performed by agents of the same gender as passengers, the agency said.

Previously, agents used several different types of pat downs to choose from after travelers set off the metal detector or were otherwise flagged for security concerns, but the new rules establish one standardized pat-down procedure that is more comprehensive.

Nico Melendez, a public affairs manager at the TSA, said the procedure was streamlined to reduce confusion and lessen the cognitive burden of officers after the TSA faced a record number of firearms detection during the week of February 20. Agents found 79 firearms, 21 of which were round chambered, setting a new record from its highest number of 18 firearms in 2014.

Some travelers called the new pat-downs invasive.

Seasoned traveler Joel Stratte-McClure said when he was catching a flight from Redding Municipal Airport to Egypt on Thursday the agent warned him the new procedure "would involve a more intense horizontal and vertical pat down" to look for concealed weapons that people typically hide in their pants.

"This was the most intriguing, intense and invasive pat down I've had by the TSA since they came into existence," Stratte-MCClure said in an email to NBC News. "Usually it's comparatively perfunctory (the gold bracelet on my right wrist sets off every security alarm in the US)."

Stratte-McClure said he is curious why it took the TSA fifteen years to understand that people conceal weapons in their pants, and doubted that the new pat-downs would be much more effective than the old ones, which he said didn't work in the first place.

"Seasoned travelers might take it in stride but infrequent travelers will be embarrassed and shocked," he said.

Some Twitter users criticized the new system, calling it "legalized groping."

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Bruce Anderson said the new pat-downs will continue to use enhanced security measures implemented several months ago.

"TSA continues to adjust and refine our systems and procedures to meet the evolving threat and to achieve the highest levels of transportation security," Anderson said in a statement.

The change comes on the heels of the agency's study of a 2015 report by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General that drew headlines. The audit lambasted TSA for not detecting handguns and other weapons and suggested the termination of the "managed inclusion program."

Andrea, they are actually allowed to cup your genitals now. This guy said a TSA agent put out his forearm and asked him to squeeze his forearm in the way he touches his genitals. This was so the TSA guy didn't squeeze him too hard when he cupped them. TSA actually informed law enforcement that they expect they will be getting more sexual assault complaints due to what they are now doing.


https://consumerist.com/2017/03/06/t...t-down-method/

TSA agent at Pittsburgh airport charged with sexting 13-year-old girl

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2017/03/15/Former-Pittsburgh-police-officer-accused-of-inappropriately-texting-13-year-old-girl/stories/201703150125

A federal Transportation Security Administration agent and former Pittsburgh police officer has been charged after a year-long investigation with sending sexually suggestive texts to a 13-year-old girl.

John Serak, 51, of Baden, was arrested Tuesday by Allegheny County Police and faces multiple felony charges. He has been suspended from his job at the Pittsburgh International Airport, where he worked for TSA as a security specialist in explosives.

The investigation began in March 2016, when the girl’s parents showed police text messages that Mr. Serak sent the girl that talked about cuddling, according to a criminal complaint. In the messages, Mr. Serak asked the girl for pictures of her from the “waist up and waist down,” the complaint said.

The allegations were originally brought to a North Fayette school resource officer, who referred the case to Allegheny County Police.

The girl told her parents about the texts because she felt uncomfortable. The girl was a friend of Mr. Serak’s daughter, according to the complaint. In March 2016, a detective took over the girl’s phone, posed as the girl and continued to text with Mr. Serak for months, the complaint said.

Between March and October 2016 the detective and Mr. Serak texted regularly, according to the complaint. In a transcript of text messages listed in the criminal complaint, Mr. Serak texted that he dreamed about kissing and marrying the girl, that she’d look “hot” in a bathing suit and discussed touching her body.

“The issue for me is part of me wants to snuggle with you like a father figure but the other part of me wants to snuggle with you because you are a very attractive young lady,” reads one text listed in the complaint.

Mr. Serak repeatedly warned the girl to delete the text messages they exchanged, and told her that if anyone saw their texts, they would never be able to see each other again, the complaint said.

Mr. Serak did not text the girl’s phone after October 2016, according to the complaint. After the initial investigation, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Child Abuse Unit reviewed the case, according to the complaint.

Mr. Serak is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, criminal solicitation, criminal use of a communication facility, attempted corruption of a minor and attempted indecent assault on a person under age 16.

Mr. Serak, who resigned from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police in 2007, has now been suspended from his job at the TSA pending removal, said Michelle Negron, a TSA spokeswoman.

“TSA does not tolerate illegal, unethical or immoral conduct,” she wrote in an email. “TSA is cooperating with local law enforcement officials as they continue to investigate the allegation.”

Mr. Serak is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on March 28. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

Andrea: Bolding mine

So glad these agents are vetted
 

Sea-Tac TSA agent pleads guilty to voyeurism charge

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/sea-tac-tsa-agent-pleads-guilty-to-voyeurism-charge/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=R SS_travel

A security worker at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport accused of taking photos from underneath passengers’ skirts has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge as part of a plea deal.

KOMO-TV reports 29-year-old Nicholas Fernandez of Tukwila pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted voyeurism.

A probable cause statement says authorities received reports of Fernandez’s behavior last July and began monitoring him.

Another TSA agent followed him as he left a security checkpoint for a break. The agent reported seeing Fernandez stand behind a woman at baggage claim and turn his phone on to record under her skirt.

Prosecutors are recommending a suspended sentence that would include a sexual-deviant treatment program and no use of a camera, among other conditions.

TSA officials said previously that Fernandez had been placed on indefinite suspension without pay.

TSA defends pat-down of Texas boy; countless others creeped out

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2017/03/28/tsa-defends-pat-down-of-texas-boy-countless-others-creeped-out/?utm_term=.ddc94fff201a

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is defending an officer’s pat-down of a boy at a Texas airport that outraged his mother and thousands and thousands of people who viewed her Facebook posting on the incident.

For at least two minutes, the TSA officer at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport gives the boy a going-over that just seems a little too thorough.

First, the TSA officer explains to the boy what’s coming. Then the TSA officer, who is wearing blue gloves, moves behind the kid and starts with a search of the kid’s left shoulder. Nothing there. Then the right shoulder. Nothing there, either. The kid’s only wearing a T-shirt after all.

Then the TSA officer runs the back of his gloved hand down the kid’s back four times. Then he runs his hands up and down the kid’s torso on both sides.

Then the TSA officer examines the waistband of the kid’s shorts with the sort of painstaking care a tailor might show while taking in a seam. Then the TSA officer runs the back of his hand down the kid’s buttocks and upper leg on the left side six times or so, with a few on the right side for good measure. Then he wraps his big manly hands around the kid’s hams.

Now it’s time to move around to the front. The TSA officer frisks the kid’s shoulders again – you never know when you’re going to find an armpit bomb. Then down the torso again. Then it’s time to fuss at the waistband some more. Then the TSA officer runs the back of his hands down the front of the kid’s upper leg. More ham-gripping.

Phew. All done. The kindly TSA officer steps away as if the ordeal’s over but – nope, he’s back at the kid’s crotch again.

Take a look, as more than 5 million other people have so far. It looks like the TSA officer’s giving the poor kid a sponge bath, not a pat-down.

“We have been through hell this morning,” the boy’s mother, Jennifer Williamson wrote on Facebook. Williamson, who did not give her son’s age, said she had asked the TSA treat him in a way that would not aggravate his disability, known as a sensory processing disorder.

“He set off NO alarms,” Williamson writes on her Facebook page. “He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine. He is still several hours later saying ‘I don’t know what I did. What did I do?'”

She didn’t respond to a request for comment made through Facebook. In her posting, however, she said her son’s screening took so long they missed their flight.

“I am livid,” Williamson writes. “I wish I had taped the entire interchange because it was horrifying.”

The TSA said it was just following orders.

Pat-down?

More like a molestation.

WTF??!!

I honestly feel like the whole world has gone insane since November.

TSA
 

I wonder how TSA will react to my tooth implant. I get my knee replacement through TSA without any issues but now I have my knee replacement and a tooth implant.

I will report back on my experiences.

Chad, if anyone goes to "frisk" ya inform them "not without dinner first" .......LOL

Haha! I would probably just smile and say "pleased to make your acquaintance ma'am".

It is a damn shame they have NO sense of humor because I can think of a million things to say to crack them up!

I have two implants. No problems and have been flying a lot in the past year.

Thanks buddy.

I did get a pat down in the airport and it got very personal. I thought that it did meet the dinner obligation or at least drinks. I hope she enjoyed playing with my body.

:cool:

I made it through all the scanners just fine. TSA is cool with my implants. They could not resist patting me down though.

.....:|....

TSA begins testing fingerprint check-ins at two US airports

https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/14/tsa-testing-fingerprint-checkin/?sr_source=Twitter

It's never a nice experience to stand in line at the airport for hours just to get a pat down when you get to the end. Hopefully, TSA's new biometric fingerprint tech could make air travel a more pleasant experience for most people. Starting this week, the Transportation Security Administration's fingerprint sensors will go through proof-of-concept testing at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and at Denver International Airport. The test will last for four weeks, and you can try it out for yourself if you registered your fingerprint as part of TSA's PreCheck program.

Your biometric info will serve as both proof of identification and boarding pass, so it can, in theory, lead to shorter lines and much speedier check-in. For the proof-of-concept test, though, participants still have to show their identification documents, boarding passes and tickets, since its purpose is to assess how accurate the biometric system is.

TSA Acting Assistant Administrator Steve Karoly said in a statement:
"TSA looks at technologies and intelligence capabilities that allow us to analyze and secure the travel environment, passengers and their property. Through these and other technology demonstrations, we are looking to reinvent and enhance security effectiveness to meet the evolving threat and ensure that passengers get to their destinations safely."

Haven't provided the agency your fingerprint yet, but you're willing to trust them with your info for the chance to test the new system out? You can still volunteer your fingerprint using its PreCheck lanes at the airport. If we're lucky, it could change the way airport security works in the US.