TSA Officer Fired for Stealing iPad in ABC News Sting
In an undercover sting operation, ABC News reporter Brian Ross intentionally left an Apple iPad at a TSA airport checkpoint, and the tablet was stolen by one of the screeners.
Following a series of of airport thefts reported to ABC News, the network dispatched a crew to an Orlando airport with the express purpose of leaving an iPad behind as bait. True to the form ABC sought, security screener Andy Ramirez took the bait, stealing the iPad and taking it home with him.
Unfortunately for Ramirez, ABC installed activated Apple’s “Find My iPhone” inside the iPad and ABC News’ Brian Ross confronted Ramirez at his home a couple of weeks later.
Although ABC told Ramirez there was video evidence of him taking the device, the TSA agent initially blamed the whole thing on his wife, in one of the saddest examples of last-ditch lying ever caught on camera.
After the report, the TSA fired Ramirez for his indefensible, cowardly, actions. Thankfully (for him) Ramirez escaped criminal prosecution and now sits jobless, hanging his head in shame under the scornful glare of the wife he blamed the entire theft on.