The family of a second girl is suing Fort Worth-based American Airlines over being filmed in an aircraft bathroom by the same flight attendant who was arrested for secretly filming a 14-year-old in September.
The parents of the girl only discovered the alleged crime after FBI officers showed up on their doorstep while investigating Estes Carter Thompson III, the flight attendant who was arrested in January after allegedly filming and taking photos of underage girls while working for the air carrier.
Family members of the 14-year-old girl have already filed a lawsuit against American and Thompson, a 36-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., after their daughter took a photo of the cell phone taped to a toilet seat lid with stickers only crew members would have.
Almost a year later, “every parent’s worst nightmare,” happened, according to Paul Llewellyn, an attorney representing the family.
“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 during a family trip to Disneyland,” the family said in an emailed statement to The News. “Since then, our daughter has struggled with fear and anxiety. 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.”
American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 9-year-old girl was traveling on American Airlines flight 2869 from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to Los Angeles for a gymnastics competition and visit to Disneyland.
While on the flight, the girl walked towards the airplane bathroom when the flight attendant working at the time, Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, N.C., told her to wait because he needed to “clean up a mess” and went in before her, court documents show. The girl used the toilet and went back to her seat.
After Thompson came under investigation for the first incident, law enforcement allegedly found more videos and pictures on his iCloud account.
In December, FBI agents knocked on the door of the second girl’s home in Austin. The agents informed the parents that still images and videos of the girl’s face, unclothed buttocks and genitalia were found on the iCloud account of Thompson, court documents allege. The parents confirmed the images were of their daughter.
Because of the nature of the incident, The Dallas Morning News is not naming the parents or the child.
The girl was asked by her parents about the incident and could recall moments from it. She now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder including depression, irritability and anxiety, court documents show.
“Their main concern is just the well-being of their daughter,” Llewellyn said. “We don’t know what happened to the images, evermore, there’s a risk that these images are now out there.”
Llewellyn said Thompson secretly filmed at least five young girls in the restrooms of American flights over 9 months.
The first to share their story and press charges was a 14-year-old girl and her family from North Carolina traveling to Boston. The girl discovered a phone affixed to the seat with stickers only crew members have access to and ultimately took a picture of it on her phone and told her parents.
When the plane arrived in Boston, police saw that Thompson’s iPhone appeared to be restored to factory settings, according to the Department of Justice. In a search through his suitcase, Thompson allegedly had 11 of the stickers similar to the ones used to tape the iPhone to the toilet. When law enforcement searched his iCloud account, they discovered four additional instances between Jan. and Aug. 2023 of minors using the restroom on an aircraft, including the girl from Austin. The victims were seven, nine, 11 and 14 at the time.
After the Boston incident, the flight attendant was immediately withheld from service and hasn’t worked since, according to American.
Thompson is charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, according to the Department of Justice. He will remain in custody pending an initial appearance in the Western District of Virginia and later at a federal court in Boston.
The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children could lead to a sentence of at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor could mean a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison. Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution.
Llewellyn said he has never come across a case like this before.
“I hope that American Airlines finally takes responsibility for their complete failure to protect these children,” Llewellyn said.
