An American Airlines flight attendant pleaded not guilty to attempting to film a teenage girl using a hidden camera in an airplane lavatory after he appeared in a federal court in Boston on Monday.
Estes Carter Thompson III of Charlotte stands accused of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor after secret recordings of other young passengers were allegedly found on his mobile phone.
The 36-year-old suspect was formally arrested by prosecutors in January following the alleged incident in September 2023 when the young victim found a mobile phone concealed under a sticker that had been attached to the toilet seat on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Boston.
During the September 2, 2023 flight, it’s alleged that Thompson approached the 14-year-old girl who was lining up to use the bathroom at the back of the aircraft and told her to use the First Class lavatory.
Thompson escorted the girl to the lavatory at the front of the plane, but before letting her go inside, he said he just needed to wash his hands.
On entering the bathroom, the victim says she found a large ‘defective catering equipment’ sticker taped to the lavatory seat. Concealed under the sticker was an iPhone with the camera peeping out.
The victim took a photo of the hidden camera and showed it to her parents who confronted Thompson. As the flight was approaching Boston, Thompson allegedly locked himself in the lavatory, where he reset his phone to factory setting in an attempt to wipe any photo evidence.
Forensic experts were, however, able to retrieve photos from Thompson’s iCloud and allegedly found photos depicting victims aged just seven, nine, 11 and 14 using an airplane bathroom.
Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were allegedly found in the same account.
The parents of the victim from the September flight have since filed a civil lawsuit against both Thompson and American Airlines. The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of American Airlines because the other crew onboard the plane made no attempt to confiscate his mobile before he locked himself in the bathroom and reset it to factory settings.
The lawsuit also claims that crew members should have noticed and been aware of Thompon’s suspicious behavior and taken action before he committed a crime.
American Airlines has, however, asked a North Carolina court where the suit was filed to dismiss the case, saying that the carrier can’t be held “liable for intentional acts or crimes of its employees where it had no knowledge of a propensity or disposition to commit either”.
