An American Airlines flight attendant who allegedly video recorded a 14-year-old girl in an aircraft lavatory has now been arrested.
Estes Thompson III, 37, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Thursday, and he's charged with sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse images.
The incident with the 14-year-old girl happened during a flight from Charlotte to Boston on Sept. 2, 2023.
According to Paul Llewellyn, the lawyer for the girl who's suing the Fort Worth-based airline, the girl didn't notice the iPhone camera taped to the underside of the toilet lid until it was too late.
Federal authorities say a search of Thompson's iCloud account turned up clips of four additional girls -- ages 7, 9, 11 and 14 -- using the aircraft lavatory between January and August of last year, along with more than 50 images of an unaccompanied nine-year-old.
They also found 11 "INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT" stickers inside Thompson's suitcase -- the same stickers as the one used to affix the iPhone to the toilet lid.
"If that is true, and I've no reason to believe it's not, then basically there was a sexual predator, a pedophile, flying on American Airlines for months, and that is obviously extremely disturbing," Llewellyn says.
"From the outset, we believe we had a strong claim, and I think it certainly strengthens it now," Llewellyn says. "American Airlines can no longer claim this was just a one-off incident."
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy says all victims have been identified, and law enforcement has contacted all of their families.
Llewellyn says American Airlines needs to be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
"The fact that this flight attendant was allegedly allowed to film multiple minors over the course of many many months, that shows there were severe failings on the part of American Airlines," says Llewellyn.
American Airlines released a statement following Thompson's arrest.
"We take these allegations very seriously," the statement begins. "They do not reflect our airline or our core mission of caring for people. We have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation, as there is nothing more important than the safety and security of our customers and team."
Llewellyn says American's statement rings hollow.
"To this day, American Airlines has not even bothered to reach out to our clients to address what happened, to apologize, or even to check on how the young girl is doing," says Llewellyn.
American says Thompson has not worked since the Sept. 2nd incident.
Officials say Thompson will make his initial court appearance in Virginia and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
Information from the Associated Press is included in this report.