Why You Should Never Check Your Valuables on a Flight

Checking a fragile item like a laptop or an iPad is a terrible idea in the first place (those bags aren’t gently placed on pillows under the plane)—but a recent bust shows that expensive items are just too tempting to TSA screeners.

The New York Post reports that 32-year old Sean J. Henry was arrested at JFK Airport after a sting caught the screener red-handed with two iPads, a 17-inch MacBook Pro, and another (possibly stolen as well) laptop in his bag. A search of Henry’s home turned up another stolen Apple laptop. The Apple-product loving TSA screener was busted by a Port Authority-run sting that used GPS-equipped iPads as bait. (Note to TSA agents: You should probably stop stealing stuff now, as this is not the first sting launched to nab sticky-fingered workers. An ABC News sting earlier this year busted another iPad thief, and a sting in 2010 caught a TSA supervisor stealing passengers’ cash.

A TSA Official responded to the New York Post, saying, the “TSA is conducting integrity testing at JFK as well at other airports around the country. TSA is committed to a proactive testing regimen to hold our employees accountable to the public and ensure they are conducting themselves with professionalism and integrity.”

(Photo: Tablet with Nature Scenery Photos via Shutterstock)

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