BOSTON — An American Airlines flight attendant, accused of secretly recording underage passengers on Charlotte flights, will remain in jail until his trial.
The criminal investigation began after a 14-year-old girl reported that Estes Thompson III directed her to a specific bathroom on her flight from Charlotte to Boston with her family.
The teen went into the lavatory and found a mobile phone taped to the underside of the open toilet seat.
The girl used her phone to take a photo of the iPhone taped on the underside of the toilet seat lid.
Stickers on the toilet that read “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT,” “REMOVE FROM SERVICE,” and “SEAT BROKEN” were hand-written in black ink on one of the stickers.
She told her family about the incident and showed them the photo leading to Thompson’s arrest.
Thompson appeared in a federal courtroom Tuesday in Boston, charged with two counts of child pornography.
Thompson is accused of taking similar videos of four other children using the bathroom, ranging in age from the 14-year-old to a seven-year-old, prosecutors said.
The incidents happened during 2023.
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Court documents stated that videos were taken during the following flights:
- American Airlines flight 1617 from Charlotte to Denver on Aug. 23, 2023 (7-year-old victim)
- American Airlines flight 2080 from Orlando to Charlotte on Aug. 15, 2023 (11-year-old victim)
- American Airlines flight 1615 from Charlotte to Kansas City on July 26, 2023 (14-year-old victim)
- American Airlines flight 2869 from Austin to Los Angeles on Jan. 26 2023, (9-year-old victim)
Investigators said they also found hundreds of images of AI-generated child pornography on Thompson’s iCloud account.
There were more than 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor, which included photos of her sleeping on a flight.
Thompson had more than 11 “inoperative catering equipment” stickers in his suitcase, investigators said.
Thompson could face up to 30 years in prison and fines of $250,000 if convicted.
A judge ordered that he stay in jail until his trial.
The family of one of the other alleged victims in this case, a nine-year-old, also filed a lawsuit against Thompson and American Airlines earlier this month.
VIDEO: 2nd lawsuit alleges American Airlines flight attendant recorded girl in lavatory
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