A former American Airlines flight attendant has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly secretly recording or attempting to record a minor female passenger in an aircraft toilet.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina is accused of filming the girl in September 2023. He is also alleged to have possessed recordings of four additional minor female passengers using toilets on board the aircraft he had worked previously.
The child was allegedly led to the first-class toilet after she was told by Thompson that it was unoccupied and she was free to use it in September 2023.
According to charging documents, Thompson told the girl he had to wash his hands briefly, and entered the lavatory before she did. Upon entering, the girl noticed red stickers on the underside of the toilet, which indicated that it was broken.
The stickers which allegedly read, “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT”, “REMOVE FROM SERVICE” and “SEAT BROKEN” were handwritten and believed to be concealing an iPhone, which was intended to record the minor passenger. The victim took a picture of the suspicious stickers with her own phone before exiting the bathroom.
According to court documents, the victim’s parents alerted flight attendants and the captain, who notified law enforcement at Boston Logan Airport. The victim’s father allegedly confronted Thompson, and he locked himself in the bathroom before landing.
Law enforcement found that his phone had likely been restored to factory settings but found 11 “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” stickers in his luggage during an extensive search.
After a search of his iCloud account, they allegedly found four previous videos where he had recorded a minor using the aircraft bathroom. The victims were seven, nine, eleven and 14 years of age.
Over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were allegedly found in Thompson’s iCloud. The images included photos taken while the minor victim was seated in her seat pre-flight and close-ups of her face while sleeping.
It is further alleged that hundreds of images of AI-generated child pornography were also found stored on Thompson’s iCloud account.
He was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia, in January 2024 and has been in federal custody since. He was indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children provides for 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 provides for a sentence of 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.
For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here.
