A Transportation Security Administration baggage inspector at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has been indicted in the theft of Apple iPads from luggage over eight months. Clayton Keith Dovel, 36, of Bedford was arrested Feb. 1 and has been suspended indefinitely, officials said. The investigation led to the recovery of eight stolen iPads, including one that was among Dovel’s possessions at Terminal E when he was arrested, airport police said.
His attorney, Greg Westfall, declined to comment. The indictments that the Tarrant County grand jury issued this week charge Dovel with theft by a public servant of items valued at up to $20,000. If convicted, he could face two to 10 years in prison.
According to airport police, a traveler reported Jan. 24 that his iPad 2 had been stolen and that he had traced it electronically to a home in Bedford owned by Dovel.
Related: Former TSA Chief says Bureaucracy a “National Embarrassment”.
We’ll know air travel is “safe” when our luggage stops getting regularly pilfered. Until then, “everything” is a joke.
Same as it always is.
If stuff can be stolen from luggage, what stops something dangerous from being put in? Big government may be protecting airlines, but is putting us at more risk of taking something dangerous home to our families and friends.
Good point. If they risk a government job for a little extra cash, why wouldn’t they risk it for a big wad of cash to deliver an extra package?
WTF, “suspended indefinitely” probably with pay.
I like how the owner traced his iPad. Can you do that with any iPad, or was there something specifically installed?
Skeptic, you can do that with any iPad and iPhone if you have an iCloud (or MobileMe) account, but you need to activate the service first.
Thanks for the info.
iPhones, iPads and Apple Macbook and Macbook Pro laptops can all be traced to an address by the registered owners. The device needs to be switched on and connected to the internet. There is an “alert when connected” function that notifies the owner when it is connected. They can be remotely wiped, have messages sent to the devices screen, or (most usefully) have a loud alarm sound activated. I hope this is accurate.
More high quality government workers protecting you. God help us!
Why is it that all the TSA people I see in these stories (or on Tv) are overweight losers? Is that some kind of profile for hiring them? You must be huge, and hate everyone else for being better off, because they’re flying and you’re not. So badger the crap out of them, so they’ll feel they’re safe slaves.
Don’t forget about the maximum education requirement of 10th grade.
Why? Because who else but a fat, ugly, stupid, low-expectation, room-temperature IQ, bruiser of a loser with no self-respect to begin, bully wannabe would go to work for the TSA and stand around a radioactive ionizing radiation emitter all day, yelling at people to put their belongings in a plastic bin?
Could a job get more thankless than that?
I think not!
Municipal water or waste water operator come to mind, but then I am a bit biased.
TSA “National Embarrassment”, GSA “National Embarrassment”, Secret Service “National Embarrassment”, ATF/DOJ “National Embarrassment”,… Can those Progressives finally get it that Government should get less power and funds? That Government simply can’t do it. That the Government itself is “National Embarrassment”.
Perhaps we should get those Paragons of Virtue on Wall Street to teach them a few things – Like how to steal REALLY BIG.
I guess they’re like monkeys with their hands on a banana in a jar.
Ignorant, willful and trapped.
Soon ALL cell phones and electronic devices which connect to the web using WiFi or cellular will be registered to their owner through their IPv6 component addresses at time of purchase and will only perform their function for as long as they aren’t reported stolen.
If the are reported, the devices shut down their UI and act as a beacon drawing the authorities to an idiot easy mark.
The devices then become the property/responsibility of the carrier or the device manufacturar and you don’t want to fuck with Ma Bell, Verizon or Apple, etc.
There is so much hype about passenger security checkpoints and yet there is a HUGE gaping hole on the service side. Think about technical services for a second. Those “trusted” staff members who bring the aircraft food in, or the sanitary services. You know the cleaners on the planes during the service breaks? And the technical staff? The ones who work with tools readily convertible or just as easily weapons disguised as tools.
The passenger security checkpoint is simply there to make the sheeple think that the Gubberment is making them safe. LOL
Oh yeah, you know how you have to switch off your cell phone cos it’s so dangerous to the plane? Really?? Do you think the evil terrorists would not have exploited this vulnerability if it was remotely true?
Just more bullshit to keep the fear up
Fnord, Fnord, Fnord…
Even Dilbert talked about this
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-09-10/
Usually when police are sent to prison they get to be in the section with preverts for protection from the general population. I wonder if the TSA people get the same service. Also, the TSA sucks.
For me, this isn’t much of a story. Things get stolen from luggage all the time. Baggage handlers are the worst of all.
I don’t care if TSA agents are low IQ. I don’t care if they only have a 10th grade education. I don’t think there is anything about this job at the entry level that a conscientious 7th or 8th grader or a Forrest Gump couldn’t do.
What bugs me is that so many of them seem to be criminals, malicious jerks, or others that a decent background check would have prevented Walmart or Amazon from hiring.
I don’t know, maybe the problem is that they can’t find enough people with integrity or the people running the show lack integrity and keep undervaluing it when they hire staff.
Hey, at minimum wage you get what you get.
Can we send him to gitmo?
Would this have even been published if the guy had been stealing laptops?
I am waiting for a TV show to start a sting operation.
“how to catch a crooked TSA agent”
Well I’ve been thinking about the role of the TSA. And I’ve decided that on balance, they’re a good thing. Because they piss so many travelers off, a significant percentage of the US population refuses to step foot in an airport, if they can help it. This includes me.
Before 9-11 happened, there was serious talk about expanding major airports, and building some new ones. Because the traveling public had been conned by various forms of marketing incentives to fly frequently, that they should even when it wasn’t necessary. So demand for air travel had skyrocketed. And airports were overcrowded. After 9-11, people reevaluated their travel needs, and got off the frequent flier wagon.
But obviously the airlines would try to recover their losses since then. With more clever marketing gimmicks. And they would have been more successful, than they have been so far. But….
The need for increased “passenger safely” (but really aircraft security) caused the federal government to institute the TSA. However the law of unintended consequence kicked in. When the bodily inspections got more invasive. To convince travelers that nobody was sneaking on board with explosives in their clothes. The result was far more annoyance and dissatisfaction, than the government and airlines probably counted on. And so it’s had a cooling effect on airlines ticket sales. Today, you hardly ever hear the phrase “frequent flier miles” anymore.
So… the net effect is because of the TSA, we need not waste taxpayer money greatly expanding or building new airports, to satisfy the airlines’ greed. More people choose to drive, or take the train or bus, or just travel shorter distances, or not as often. And even though it costs taxpayers $8 billion a year to discourage the public from flying. It may have saved 100s of billions in increased air traffic infrastructure development.
The TSA is an effective anti-marketing tool. Now if the Gov. could only devise something similar for junk food and smoking.
Every time I have flown in the last 2 years every plane is chock full. And I know my tickets aren’t as cheap as they used to be. The airlines must be doing something right.
When he gets out on this misdemeanor he can get a job in Santa Fe. I understand they are looking for some jerk-off to fill a recently available police officer position.
Why is it a prerequisite to be a huge, overweight, dirty fat ass to work for TSA.
I always take ALL my valuables in my carry-on luggage.
Laptop, tablet, camera, you name it. Only my smelly underwear go checked-in.