The American Airlines flight attended arrested for secretly recording a teenage girl in the bathroom had four other videos of minors on his phone, court documents have revealed.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, was indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
He was arrested in January for allegedly trying to secretly record a 14-year-old passenger while she was using the bathroom on the flight he was working on last September. She noticed a phone taped to the toilet and alerted her parents.
The FBI then found other victims after searching his devices and iCloud including material of girls ages 7, 9, 11 and 14, as well as AI generated pornography.
‘Agents have located additional evidence of Thompson’s sexual interest in children within the account. For example, agents have located hundreds of images of child pornography, which appear to have been created through an artificial intelligence,’ said court documents view by DailyMail.com.
American Airlines flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, had four other videos of minors on his phone, court document said
Investigators said that about midway through the September 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to her seat but found it was occupied.
Thompson then told her the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators said. Before she entered the bathroom, Thompson allegedly told her he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken.
After he left, the teen entered the bathroom and saw red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, stating, ‘INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT’, ‘REMOVE FROM SERVICE’ and ‘SEAT BROKEN’ handwritten in black ink on one of the stickers, according to court documents.
Beneath the stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video, investigators said. The girl used her phone to take a picture of the stickers and concealed iPhone before leaving. Thompson then immediately went back into the bathroom.
The girl told her parents, and her father confronted Thompson, who locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes before the flight´s descent, investigators said.
The minor’s parents also informed other flight attendants and the captain was notified. The captain then contacted law enforcement on the ground.
When the flight landed, police said Thompson’s phone may have been restored to factory settings while he was locked in the bathroom.
A search of Thompson´s suitcase found 11 ‘INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT’ stickers, investigators said. A search of his iCloud account allegedly revealed four additional instances between January and August 2023 in which Thompson recorded a minor using the lavatory on an aircraft.
Police also found photos Thompson took of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor on a flight from Charlotte to San Antonio on July 9.
He took close up photos of the girl asleep in her seat during the flight and a video of her buttocks as she exited the aircraft.
Thompson was arrested after one of his victims took a photo of the set up he created to film the girls using the bathroom
Police also found photos Thompson took of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor sleeping and walking off the plane
The parents of one of Thompsons victims have filed a lawsuit against the flight attendant.
‘It felt like we were living in a nightmare when the FBI showed up on our doorstep to tell us that our daughter had been secretly filmed by an American Airlines flight attendant. Since then, our daughter has struggled with fear and anxiety,’ the girl’s family told DailyMail.com in a statement.
‘We are doing everything we can to support her during this traumatic time. An important part of our family’s healing is making sure that the flight attendant and American Airlines are held accountable for what happened to our daughter. We hope that this lawsuit is the first step in making sure nothing like this ever happens to another family.’
The father of a 14-year-old girl who was secretly filmed in a plane bathroom confronted the male flight attendant accused of making the video.
The girl’s father then ‘ran into the back of the plane, and there was quite a kerfuffle back there,’ attorney John Buric, representing the victim, told NewsNation.
‘Minor A’s father then engaged Thompson directly and demanded to see his phone,’ reads the affidavit filed against the attendant.
‘He saw the color drain out of Thompson’s face. Thompson responded that he did not know what Minor A’s father was talking about,’ the affidavit continues.
