Estes Carter Thompson III receives over 18 years in prison for secretly recording a minor in a plane bathroom.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An American Airlines flight attendant will spend over 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to secretly recording a 14-year-old girl in an airplane bathroom on a flight from Charlotte to Boston in 2023.
Estes Carter Thompson III was sentenced to 18 years and six months in federal prison on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography in March. Thompson’s case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. Thompson was not issued a fine, but restitution will be determined at a later date.
According to investigators, about midway through a Sept. 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to her seat but found it was occupied.
Thompson told her the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators said. She told investigators that before she entered the bathroom, Thompson told her he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken.
After he left, the teen entered the bathroom and saw red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, officials said. Beneath the stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video, investigators said. The girl used her phone to take a picture of the stickers and concealed iPhone before leaving.
Prosecutors also allege hundreds of images of child sexual abuse generated through artificial intelligence were found stored on Thompson’s iCloud account, as well as the images of the other four girls captured on earlier flights.
Thompson was arrested in January 2024 in Virginia and has been in federal custody since.
The victim’s family filed a lawsuit against American Airlines over the incident.
The lawsuit claimed American Airlines “knew or should have known the flight attendant was a danger” and alleged other crew members’ failure to confiscate his phone allowed potential evidence to be destroyed. American Airlines reached a settlement with the family over the lawsuit in February.
Thompson waived his right to appeal the sentencing because he accepted a plea deal.
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