Arrested TSA Employee TSA employee steals $450 pen

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/fl-tsa-pen-arrest-20110722,0,3237690.story

[coached by Mike to add current link & synopsis]

Orlando Sentinel: TSA agent charged in theft of $450 pen

 

According to my count we are at 31 crimes since December with 36 screeners arrested or convicted. The difference in the count is because of the multiple arrests at EWR and JFK.

 

Nearly looks like that barrel of apples called TSA they let sit too long in the hot sun and nearly all of them went bad.

They tar all passengers as terrorists so turn about is fair play. All TSA employees are theives. Just a question of when they get caught and order of magnitude of their thefts.

 

Fruit doesn't ripen & go bad from sitting in the sun. It's caused by naturally occurring enzymes which are created in greater quantity by fruit that is already ripe or spoiled. As the saying goes: "One bad apple spoils the whole basket." TSA is no exception.

 

If the TSA is supposed to be the front line of airline security why are they not vetted by the FBI like military personnel are when considered for a top secret clearance? We've been interviewed by the FBI several times regarding friends in the military who need a higher security clearance for their jobs. It's very thorough. An agent comes to our house and asks us very detailed questions. They do multiple interviews with several sources. If the TSA supposedly has such an important job why are they not required to be background checked to this extent? After reading multiple stories about thefts at airports it is apparent that nobody wants to take responsibility - TSA says it's the baggage screeners, the baggage screeners say it's the TSA or the baggage handlers. And considering you can no longer lock your luggage, how do you prove you had the missing items packed in the first place?

 

Apparently Toussain Puddie is afraid that some abused travelers might end up on his jury ....

Broward/Palm Beach New Times: State Going "Full Blast" With Theft Charges Against Former TSA Screener, Says Lawyer

The defense would like to use discovery to obtain some documents from the state, but that would preclude a settlement and almost certainly result in a trial:

 

Sage advice for the groper: Your gropee today could be your juror tomorrow.

 

I would love to get on that jury. It was FLL were the FSD buried my complaint about an attempted theft at the passenger screening checkpoint. Nothing I did after made any difference, no one in TSA, TSA OIG or others cared a twit.

 

I gotta be the dissenting voice on this one folks. I don't think Puddie had any reason to believe the pen was so valuable.

Normal folks buy pens in lots of 3-20, and expect to lose them all within a week or two. I know better than half the writing implements rolling around on the bottom of my purse or in my briefcase were picked up somewhere or other. My original 20 I bought last week are mostly gone.

Big, fat, hairy deal.

I think owners of 450 dollar pens need a reality check: "Don't leave your over-priced toy laying around where someone might accidentally mistake it for a dollar tree knock-off. Normal folks simply can't tell the difference."

Sorry. That's reality.

Mr. Puddie may or may not be a thief, but it's easy to see that the pen was an innocent mistake.

 

I could say the same the same thing about $18,000 Rollexes and the people who wear them. If a Bic & a Timex are good enough for me, they should be good enough for anyone.

Meanwhile, back to reality. This $450 pen was not your run-of-the-mill Bic, definitely not a "dollar tree knock-off": http://www.montblanc.com/products/26.php

Mr. Puddie needs to pay his dues. After all, my ancestors got one-way tickets to Tasmania for stealing much less.

 

How many people have accidentally walked off with a pen after signing something? Lots, although I've actually come back to the store whenever I realize I've done this, with the pen, 1o cent item or not. Somehow I doubt that the passenger was having the TSO sign something at the checkpoint. But I wasn't there, so I don't know, and TSO or no, I'm willing to give this fellow the chance he never gave the people he groped or aided and abetting groping, that is, the benefit of law and constitutional rights.

I do say, however, that any theft of ANY item of whatever value from a passenger at a checkpoint should be a federal offense and should be a felony. This is because it brings TSA into disrepute (or maybe keeps it there), and in so doing it threatens aircraft safety by reducing the willingness of passengers to cooperate with the agency.

 

Uh, we need to sign this paperwork so we'll use the passenger's pen?
Are we not scrambling to BS for TSA's cover?

 

Did anyone actually look at the link for the $450 pen? It is not the type of pen that most of us use, walk off with, etc.

 

Yes, it's a shiny bit of bling. I get that.

Shiny bits of pretentious bling are pretty ubiquitous in this culture. It's very probable Mr. Puddie can't tell the difference between expensive pretentious bling and cheap pretentious bling. I usually can't either.

I hate the TSA, but I don't see how pillorying Mr. Puddie serves the public good.

During my frequent military moves the moving crews regularly destroyed irreplaceable heirloom china and precious antiques. They didn't understand how an old, battered looking object could be more valuable than a new shiny one, nor could the comprehend the concept of irreplaceable.

Contrary to what the packing crews for the moving companies imagined, the government did not reimburse us for the monetary value of these things. Congress contemplated a bill that would have allowed full reimbursement, but decided against it when they learned exactly how much money was at stake.

I wish there had been a safe place to put these family treasures. Ultimately, their loss is my responsibility. The packers and movers couldn't be expected to respect or protect objects they couldn't see the value in.

People who own 450 dollar pens need to be aware that most people can not see these bits of bling as valuable unless the packaging and price tag are still attached.

 

but it really matters not a wit whether it was a $1 pen or a $450 pen. It was not his, it was left behind after a passenger underwent screening and should have been turned in to lost and found.

That it was placed into a cabinet just leads one to surmise that every clerk there was part of a scam to pocket 'lost' property.

As I have said before, liars, cheats and thieves - every last one of them.

 

The screener knew it was not his pen and I believe most people can tell a $2 pen from a $450 pen. He took it either way and must be held accoumtable for his act.

 

The only thing that really bothers me about this entire episode is that I think there's a good possibility there were two thieves and we're only going after one of them.

I do find it plausible that Puddie saw the pen in a cabinet and took it. That's wrong, even if it was just a government-bought BIC. But someone took it from the checkpoint area to that cabinet. If it was a Lost-and-Found cabinet, the pen should have been logged - and it wasn't. Perhaps I missed it, but AFAIK, I don't remember reading about security tapes being reviewed or schedules checked to determine if Puddie was on the belt when the pen went AWOL.

For those who say (accurately) that not everyone can distinguish between cheap bling and 'quality' bling, I would have to point out: Puddie found the pen and liked it enough to take it. I find it hard to believe he would have taken it if it had been an everyday BIC.

In the end, BIC or MontBlanc, it wasn't his and he shouldn't have taken it. I just would like more evidence that he was the only one involved.

 

Here is an update on the case.

TSA Agent Accused of Stealing Rick Case's Pen Wants a Trial

 

I think all but dim bulbs can tell a nice quality pen from the standard Bic. However, being as how he worked for TSA being a dim bulb could be a mitigating factor.

 

Let me put in a contrary view here for Puddie. I'm not sure who's guilty of what, and I'm surely not going to take TSA's word on it. But even if Puddie did try to walk off with the pen, knowing its value (a big "if" there, it seems to me), well, so what? Yes, in that case if that's shown to be, he shouldn't be working at TSA. But at least this is an ordinary human type of instinct, he wasn't so far as we know, involved in mistreating a grandmother or a disabled kid.