PHOTO: Joe Bangay. Photo Courtesy of the Port Authority Police Department
A Transportation Security Administration screening agent last week was arrested for stealing cash from a passenger’s wallet at a security checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to Port Authority Police.
Joe Bangay, 37, of St. Albans, was cuffed last Saturday night and charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Around 10 p.m. on Saturday, a 26-year-old Bronx man reported to PAPD officers that as he was going through routine airport screening he placed his wallet and other pocket items in a plastic bin for x-ray imaging. When he retrieved his wallet, he noticed that $61 had been removed, PA Police said.
Cops initiated an investigation and photographic evidence indicated that Bangay, who was in uniform and working at the checkpoint, had allegedly removed the cash from the passenger’s wallet, and was responsible for the theft.
“TSA is in the process of terminating the employment of this individual for his disgraceful and intolerable behavior,” the agency said in a statement. “TSA holds its security officers to the highest professional and ethical standards and has a zero-tolerance policy for misconduct in the workplace. Allegations of misconduct are aggressively investigated and when our employees fail to meet these fundamental ethical standards, we hold our personnel appropriately accountable. TSA security officers represent a professional and honorable workforce that is trained to treat passengers and their personal belongings with care and respect.”
This is the latest in a string of criminal incidents involving the TSA. Earlier this month, a former JFK agent was arrested for stealing a passenger’s watch. In August, another former agent was charged with molesting a passenger in a LaGuardia Airport bathroom.
On Monday, the New York Post editorial board wondered aloud if any of the 2016 presidential candidates would “target the thieving TSA?”
“Here’s an issue for the presidential candidates: Will any of you lads or lasses promise to abolish this agency — or to at least tear it up and begin anew?” they asked in an editorial. “Real security demands it.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
