TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A flight attendant on an American Airlines flight out of Florida is accused of recording minors using the restroom on that flight and several others, according to details in a federal criminal complaint.
The family of one of the victims filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, becoming the second family to sue, according to Nexstar’s Queen City News. Details regarding the second lawsuit weren’t immediately available.
Estes Carter Thompson III. was working American Airlines Flight 2080 from Orlando to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 15, according to the complaint. He allegedly recorded an 11-year-old using the restroom after leading her to one of the plane’s bathrooms and “pointing towards the toilet.”
The video was reportedly taken on an iPhone that was placed above the toilet seat and pointed toward the door, according to the complaint.
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The video was found located in Thompson’s iCloud account, along with an edited version of the video that was shortened and in slow motion, the documents say.
The FBI began investigating Thompson after a 14-year-old on Flight 1441 from Charlotte to Boston on Sept. 2 found an iPhone taped to the toilet, according to the complaint.
The teen went to use the main cabin restroom where her family was seated, but was instead allegedly instructed by Thompson to use the first-class restroom — but not until he went in first because “he had to wash his hands,” according to the complaint. Thompson told the teen that the toilet seat was broken.
The teen saw red stickers on the toilet that “looked official,” according to the FBI. The teen didn’t think anything was wrong and used the restroom. When she stood up, she noticed the phone with the flash enabled.
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The stickers read “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” and had “SEAT BROKEN” hand-written in black ink. Other passengers who used the restroom on the flight reported to the FBI that they didn’t see any stickers on the seat, and saw Thompson enter the restroom both immediately before and after the teen.
The teen took a photo of the phone and returned to her seat, officials said. The girl showed the photo to her parents, who confronted the other flight attendants.
Thompson was reportedly the only male flight attendant working that flight, and the teen’s dad confronted him, asking to see his phone. Thompson allegedly took the phone for about 15 seconds before handing it over, according to the FBI.
The father went to look at the phone, but it had locked, the FBI said. Thompson unlocked the phone in front of everyone, and one of the other flight attendants looked through the photos app. The flight attendant was unable to determine what the images where.
Thompson allegedly went back into the bathroom for about five minutes after the confrontation before he returned to the main cabin, according to the documents. Thompson was interviewed by Massachusetts State Police after the flight landed.
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The officers asked to see his phone, which he handed over to them, stating that the phone was new and that he had just gotten it a day earlier, according to the FBI. The officer noted that the phone appeared to be in a used condition and had an empty call log, no text messages, and no photos or videos.
Officers suspected the phone was factory reset, but it was still linked to Thompson’s Apple ID, according to the complaint.
The FBI got a search warrant to search Thompson’s suitcase, where they found 11 “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” stickers — the same kind that the teen found on the restroom toilet seat.
A search warrant was also obtained for Thompson’s phone. The search revealed the phone was factory reset at 9:31 a.m. on Sept. 2 and then reconnected to the American Airlines on-board Wi-Fi network about 30 minutes after the teen took a photo of the phone on the back of the toilet, according to the complaint.
The FBI then obtained a search warrant for Thompson’s iCloud account, which showed the phone in question was an iPhone 12 Pro registered to his account on Sept. 21, 2021, according to the complaint.
The FBI was unable to locate the video of the teen on the flight to Boston on the iCloud account because it’s possible the video was deleted from the phone before it could sync with the cloud, according to the documents.
However, the search of the iCloud account led detectives to find at least four other instances of Thompson allegedly recording minors in the restrooms of planes, including the Orlando to Charlotte flight a few weeks prior, according to the FBI.
Thompson allegedly also recorded a 7-year-old on Flight 1617 from Charlotte to Denver on Aug. 23; a 14-year-old on a July 26 flight from Charlotte to Kansas City (Flight 1615); and a 9-year-old on a Jan. 23, 2023, flight from Austin to Los Angeles (Flight 2869), according to the complaint.
Detectives also allegedly found 272 still images of one of the children that appeared to be screenshots from the video, the FBI said. Some of the pictures reportedly included screenshots from the video next to the child’s face.
Other photos on Thompson’s iCloud account allegedly showed photos of an unaccompanied minor in her seat on a July 9 flight from Charlotte to San Antonio, according to the complaint. There were also allegedly hundreds of child porn images seemingly created by artificial intelligence.
Thompson was arrested Jan. 18 and has been charged with sexual exploitation of children and attempt, and possession of child pornography depicting prepubescent minor, and attempt, according to the documents.
WFLA.com has reached out to American Airlines for comment.
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