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Who is Estes Carter Thompson III? American Airlines flight attendant jailed for filming girls
Estes Carter Thompson III was arrested in January 2024 after a 14-year-old girl found his phone hidden in a bathroom during a September 2023 flight.
Estes Carter Thompson III, a former American Airlines flight attendant, was sentenced to 18 and a half years in prison on July 23 for secretly recording young girls in airplane bathrooms. He will also spend five years under supervised release after release, according to a USA Today report.
Thompson, 38, was arrested in January 2024 after a 14-year-old girl found his phone hidden in a bathroom during a September 2023 flight. The phone was set up to record video from under the toilet seat.
Investigators later found out Thompson had recorded several other girls between January and August 2023. They also found hundreds of AI-made child abuse images in his iCloud account.
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American Airlines fired Thompson after the following scandal
American Airlines fired Thompson after the following scandal. The company said that Thompson “did not reflect our airline or our core mission of caring for people,” and said it was fully cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.
Earlier this year, Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography showing a prepubescent child.
US Attorney Leah B. Foley said, “Mr. Thompson took advantage of his position of trust as a flight attendant to exploit innocent children – directing them to an aircraft bathroom he had set up to record them and then revisiting those videos for his own sexual gratification.”
Foley added, “In so doing, he shattered five children’s sense of safety and trust in the world around them, leaving them instead with fear, mistrust, insecurity, and sadness.”
How did Estes Carter Thompson III get arrested?
The incident that led to his arrest happened on September 2 flight from Charlotte to Boston. A 14-year-old girl got up to use the bathroom in the main cabin. Thompson told her the first-class lavatory was open and walked her there.
Before she went in, he said he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken. After he left, she noticed red stickers under the lid that read “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” and “REMOVE FROM SERVICE,” with “SEAT BROKEN” written on one.
She also found a phone recording with the flashlight on. She took a photo of the setup and went back to her seat. Thompson then went in and removed the phone. The girl showed the picture to her parents, who then complained to the flight crew and the captain.
Prosecutors said, “When confronted by the minor’s father and other flight staff, Thompson locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone and restored the device to factory settings – wiping all content from the phone.”
When the plane landed in Boston, police searched Thompson’s phone and luggage. They found 11 of the same red stickers in his bag. A deeper look into his iCloud account showed he had recorded four more girls, ages 7 to 14, on other flights.
“Each of the videos appeared to be taken in a similar fashion, in which Thompson attached his iPhone to a spot above a toilet seat,” prosecutors said. In two of the videos, he saved hundreds of screenshots.
