Former Charlotte flight attendant accused of secretly recording minors indicted
CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A former American Airlines flight attendant accused of secretly recording a teen girl in an aircraft’s bathroom has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
The incident, involving Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, happened in September 2023.
Thompson is also accused of possessing videos of four more minors using bathrooms on an aircraft he had worked on previously, court officials said.
Thompson has been indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
Thompson was previously charged and arrested in January 2024 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been in federal custody ever since, authorities said.
According to court documents, on Sept. 2, 2023, while working as a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Boston, Thompson tried to secretly record a 14-year-old girl as she used the bathroom inside the plane.
About halfway through the flight, the teen girl got up to use the main cabin bathroom near where she was seated. When she got to the bathroom it was already occupied. After waiting a short time, Thompson allegedly came up to her, told her that the first-class bathroom was available, and walked her toward first class, court documents said.
MORE: Second lawsuit alleges flight attendant from Charlotte filmed 9-year-old girl in bathroom
Before the teen girl entered the bathroom, Thompson allegedly told her that he needed to wash his hands and that the bathroom’s toilet seat “was broken” and briefly entered the bathroom.
It is alleged that, after Thompson left the bathroom, the teen girl saw red stickers on the bottom of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, that stated, “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” and “REMOVE FROM SERVICE,” and “SEAT BROKEN” was hand-written in black ink on one of the stickers. It is alleged that, under the red stickers, Thompson had hidden his iPhone to record a video. The teen girl used her own phone to take a picture of the red stickers and the hidden iPhone she found in the bathroom, records state.
Once the plane landed at Boston’s Logan Airport, and the teen girl reported what happened, authorities noticed that Thompson’s iPhone was restored to factory settings. A search of Thompson’s iCloud account revealed four more incidents between January and August 2023 in which Thompson recorded a minor using the bathroom on a plane. The minors depicted in the recordings were 7, 9, 11, and 14-years-old at the time, documents state.
Authorities said more than 50 images of a 9-year-old were found in Thompson’s iCloud. They said the photos were taken while the child was in her seat pre-flight and close-ups of her face.
Hundreds of images of AI-generated child pornography were also found stored on Thompson’s iCloud account, according to federal authorities.
Thompson could face up to 30 years in prison on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children. He could also face up to 20 years in prison on charges of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
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