Arrested TSA Employee TSA officer Larry Kobielnik accused of kidnapping, sexually battering

UPDATE: Tried and convicted, assumed room temperature on the day he was to be sentenced.

Sounds like the quintessential TSA screener. This is the standard to which TSA holds its employees.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/public...lice-officer-sexually-battering-woman/2133549

 

Former Tarpon Springs police officer, but hasn't worked there in over 10 years. Need to find out why he is no longer with the PD.

Something tells me that this is another background check that USIS screwed up.

I just want to puke when the neighbors all says things such as "oh, he's such a nice young man" "I can't believe he'd so such a thing" and on and on and on. Doesn't anyone ever say the guy was a creep or at least "no comment"?

 

Why aren't I surprised?

 

Right.

 

Some:

Worked luggage. Since 2002? Perhaps TSA recognized he didn't meet their high standard for people/customer service skills, to work the checkpoint.

 

Just another of thousands of selfless Americans taking a huge pay cut to do his patriotic duty.

 

This story actually reflects a bit of restraint:

St. Petersburg Times: Altercation with the police lands septuagenarians in jail (Dec 6 2000)

Police went to Ruth H. Hunt's house after receiving a call that she was threatening a neighbor's dog with a machete. When police arrived at 1:45 p.m. Sunday, Hunt, 72, put down the machete. But she picked up a pair of pruning shears and charged at the two officers, police said. "She was fighting," Tarpon Springs Police Sgt. Tom Hill said. Officers Sheila Fowlie and Larry Kobielnik backed away from her. They then tried to subdue Hunt ...​

Maybe 9/11 was his deliverance from having to deal with machete-wielding geezers.

Officer Sheila Fowlie had her own issues: Tarpon man sues ex-officer for wrongful arrest: He claims the officer mistook him as the man who had hit her, resulting in his jail time (St. Petersburg Times)

 

Press release from Pinellas County Sheriff's Office:

13-165 Pinellas County Detectives Arrest Dunedin Man For Kidnapping And Sexual Battery
Home → Investigative Operations Bureau → 13-165 Pinellas County Detectives Arrest Dunedin Man For Kidnapping And Sexual Battery
Who:
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
Patrol Operations Bureau
Investigative Operations Bureau
-Robbery/Homicide Unit
Larry Kobielnik (Arrested)
DOB: 11/29/1975
Address: 397 Stirling Terrace, Dunedin
Arrested for Kidnapping and Sexual Battery
Victim is a 30-year-old female, who was not known to the suspect. Per Florida Statute 119, no further information will be released that would tend to identify the victim.
What:Detectives have arrested a suspect after he kidnapped the victim and sexually battered her.
Where:The victim was kidnapped in Clearwater and taken to a private residence located in Dunedin.
When:The crime occurred at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Friday July 26, 2013.
How/Why:According to detectives, the victim was walking in the area of Gulf to Bay Blvd. and Highlands Avenue in Clearwater at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Friday, July 26, 2013 when the suspect approached her in his vehicle. The suspect asked the victim if she needed a ride and she got in his vehicle.
After driving a few blocks the victim asked the suspect to stop the vehicle in which the suspect refused. The suspect then showed the victim a handgun and a police badge, stating the victim was under arrest. The suspect continued driving to a house in Dunedin where he then sexually battered the victim.
The victim was held in the house for several hours until the suspect fell asleep and she was able to escape. Upon her leaving the house, the victim was able to get the vehicle’s tag number, which she provided to detectives.
The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Larry Kobielnik, was interviewed by detectives and denied the allegations. Kobielnik was arrested and transported to the Pinellas County Jail without further incident.
Kobielnik has been charged with Kidnapping and Sexual Battery.
The investigation continues.
Kobielnik’s booking photo is attached.

 

Born in 1975, graduated in 1995 -- did he repeat a year, maybe two, of school?

When your elevator doesn't run all the way to the top, you can often find a job as a cop ... or as a TSA officer.

 

I understand what you are saying here, but how often do we get down on our neighbors in general? We all have that one or two neighbors we don't really mesh well with or outright dislike, but most of us stay in an area because we find we sync well with the locals. It never surprises me when most of the people that live around someone accused of something heinous say "He was a great guy", "He cut Old Lady Smiths grass every week like clockwork, never even charged her for gas", "He helped me move my new air conditioner off the truck and into place on the concrete pad here, then helped me to wire it and even bent the cowling for the attached ductwork in his metal shop". Most of our interactions with our neighbors are unremarkable, or positive - otherwise we would be moving around a lot more. From most of the accounts I read, this guy fits into his neighborhood just like the rest of the folks that live there. The fact that these charges have been leveled against him will not change the previous interactions, but it will certainly color the future ones.

 

The Herald Tribune maintains an "officer database" that has an entry for Larry Kobielnik. Note that his separation date was June 2, 2001, more than three months before 9/11, so it's B.S. to claim that he left to take a job with TSA, more likely that he washed out at the end of his probationary period.

Larry Kobielnik​

Sex:

Male
Race:

White
Age:

37​

Employment History

Tarpon Springs Police Department

Class:

Law Enforcement
Type:

Full-Time
Start Date:

4/24/2000
Separation:

(Separated on 6/2/2001) Voluntary Separation (Not involving misconduct)
Complaints
Certificates

Law Enforcement​

 

Is it typical for 11-yr TSOs to be checking luggage?

 

It depends on the airport. Some have Checked bags only and Checkpoint only duty status, so it is entirely possible that he worked nothing but luggage for 11 years. Other airports have dual function, it is determined by the individual airport and their needs.

 

Call me not surprised. As a manager I would require cross training and cross qualifications to allow deployment of available clerks as needed. Of course with TSA we are dealing with severe handicaps.​

 

Given the TSA history of untrainability, I don't consider it surprising.

 

Have any articles stated what airport(s) he worked at? Likely candidates are TPA & PIE.

 

2002. Before or after he was on TSA's payroll? Gave TSA no pause either way. Wonder what badge he was flashing.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/...center-of-previous-investigation-records-show

 

One must wonder how many other times he got away with this in the eleven years since.

 

I realize that the DA has to make a call on successful prosecutions but its a real shame this TSA Pervert was let loose on the public.

 

Just based on my personal experience, if the DA declined prosecution, then there likely was not much of anything to go on in the way of physical evidence. I have seen prosecutors file and take crappy cases to court, with very little in the way of physical evidence (DNA, but not much else - and the defendant had an airtight alibi to boot). If they are declining to prosecute it is usually one of two things - politics or a pretty startling lack of physical evidence. It appears that in the current case, they have some evidence in play, otherwise it would not have been publicized so quickly.