An American Airlines flight attendant who was arrested for allegedly filming a 14-year-old girl in a restroom has been accused of doing the same to a 9-year-old child — whose family is suing her and the airline, according to a report.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, was arrested on January 18 after being accused of filming several young girls with a hidden camera as they used the toilet on his flight.
He was charged after allegedly being caught red-handed in September by a 14-year-old girl who saw an iPhone being recorded in the toilet on a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston. His family has filed a lawsuit against the airline.
A federal investigation revealed four previous victims, including a 9-year-old girl from Texas, the Daily Mail reported.
The girl’s parents allege Thompson filmed the child during a January 2023 flight to Los Angeles, where they went to Disney World and a gymnastics meet, according to the outlet, which cited a second lawsuit.
Former American Airlines flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, is being sued by the family of a 9-year-old girl for allegedly secretly filming her in the bathroom.
The FBI reportedly recovered images from his iCloud that allegedly show the girl’s face, buttocks and genitalia.
“It felt like we were living a nightmare when the FBI showed up on our doorstep to tell us that our daughter had been secretly videotaped by an American Airlines flight attendant,” her family told the Daily Mail in a statement.
“Since then, our daughter has been struggling with fear and anxiety. We are doing everything we can to support him during this traumatic time,” they told the outlet.
“An important part of our family’s healing is holding the flight attendants and American Airlines accountable for what happened to our daughter. We hope this lawsuit is the first step to make sure nothing like this happens to another family.”
Thompson has been charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography depicting pre-adolescent minors in connection with the 14-year-old’s case.
During her flight, she got up to use a nearby restroom but found it full so Thompson told her the first-class bathroom was open and escorted her there, prosecutors said.
He told her he needed to wash his hands and the toilet seat was broken – then went in and out of the toilet briefly before letting her in, according to officials.
Thompson allegedly hid his phone under the toilet seat.
The girl saw a red sticker on the bottom of an open toilet seat cover that said, “CATERING EQUIPMENT INOPERATIVE” and “OUT OF SERVICE,” according to court documents and images obtained by The Post. “SEAT BROKEN” is handwritten in black on one of the stickers.
He then snapped a photo of the sticker and mobile phone he saw underneath – after which Thompson quickly went back inside.
The photo shows the iPhone roughly attached to the seat and closed except where the camera is, with the flashlight on. His parents alerted the rest of the crew, who told the captain about the incident.
The girl’s father allegedly confronted Thompson, who then locked himself in the bathroom with his phone before the plane landed in Boston, where police found 11 additional stickers and discovered his phone may have been restored to factory settings.
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But authorities searched through his iCloud account and found four other incidents between January and August 2023 in which Thompson allegedly recorded underage girls ages 7, 9, 11 and 14, according to the report.
Authorities also found hundreds of AI-generated child pornography images stored on Thompson’s iCloud account, officials said.
The family of the 14-year-old girl sued American Airlines in December for not immediately confiscating Thompson’s phone — allowing him to potentially “destroy evidence” after crew members had been notified.
American Airlines said Thompson was immediately removed from service after the incident. AFP via Getty Images
“He said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I had nothing to do with this,’” the lawsuit says.
Thompson faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, a possible lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
Shortly after the September incident, Thompson was pulled from service and has not worked since, the airline said.
It is unclear whether Thompson has an attorney representing him. The Post has reached out to American Airlines about the latest lawsuit.
In an earlier statement, the company said it took “these allegations very seriously.”
“They do not reflect our airline or our core mission of taking care of people,” the airline told The Post in the statement. “We have cooperated fully with law enforcement in their investigation, as nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and our team.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
