Brickbat: The Unfriendly Skies

Two Transportation Security Administration officers at Miami International Airport have been charged with felony grand theft for stealing from travelers going through security at the airport. Josue Gonzalez and Labarrius Williams have been charged with stealing from only two victims, but they confessed numerous thefts and claimed to have stolen an average of $1,000 daily while working together. Gonzalez was accepted into a diversion program that will see the charges against him dropped if he pays $700 to the two victims involved and does 25 hours of community service in the next six months. He must also give up his airport security credentials. Williams will go to trial in October.

Comments

[Jerryskids]

Is he going to get his job back at the sheltered workshop?

[Adans smith]

Where did they think they were? A San Francisco Walgreens?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Did Gonzalez snitch on Williams?

[Wizard4169]

You know what they say, if you can't drop a dime don't do the crime.

[target]

So he has to pay back $700 for getting caught, but usually makes $1,000 per day, so like, not even as much as he made that day. He loves it when a plan comes together?

[rbike]

This is an advertisement for more behavior like this. ~$200,000 per year ( plus "honest" wages). What is the downside? Multi-tier justice in this clown world.

[AT]

One day I'm going to buy an airline ticket for the sole purpose of putting a dye-pack into my carry-on.

[flag58]

Then you get charged with possession of an explosive device.
We can't have fun anymore.

[Davy C]

Diversion programs would perhaps be appropriate if they *really* only stole from two people. Diversion programs are not for people who steal $1000 daily.

[Jerry B.]

But they’re cop-adjacent, so they get the cop sentence.

[ducksalad]

If you dig down into the link, the investigation only started after a pattern of complaints from passengers. There were originally three charged, Fuster, Gonzalez, and Williams, all of whom confessed to a large number of thefts. The video shows Gonzalez and Williams doing two thefts. Fuster had her charges dropped, Gonzalez gets diversion, and Williams is going to trial.

The following is pure speculation based on the facts above.

The investigators who initially questioned them "mistakenly" (cough) did something that made the confessions inadmissable as evidence. Since Fuster was not on the videos, she got off entirely. As FoE suggests, Gonzalez gets diversion in return for his cooperation against Williams.

Prediction:
Williams's trial gets delayed until after Gonzalez finishes his 25 hours of community service and Gonzalez's charges are formally dropped. No longer under threat, Gonzalez develops a hazy memory about Williams.

Outcome:
Everyone lives happily ever after. Only question is how much of the tens of thousands of dollars they confessed to stealing went to the investigator and/or prosecutor.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

What about systemic racism? The only reason they even stole is because of the structural inequities inherent in late stage capitalism. If we're seriously going to #AbolishPrisons, this is where we start.

[MatthewSlyfield]

Truth in advertising update:
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help (myself your stuff)."

[Public Entelectual]

Kabuki tickets have always been expensive.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Gonzalez was accepted into a diversion program that will see the charges against him dropped if he pays $700 to the two victims involved and does 25 hours of community service in the next six months. He must also give up his airport security credentials.

FYI, this is the under-incarceration problem that some talk about.

[Four fried chickens and a coke]

Maybe they used the George Costanza defense; Oh, was that wrong?

[Dillinger]

To Catch a Smuggler Smuggling from the Smugglers

[croaker]

TSA: They Steal Anything

[GroundTruth]

The best TSA employees have a serious lack of understanding of the Fourth Amendment, the worst of them are thugs.

Take your pick.

[Wizard4169]

Between the War on (Some) Drugs and the War on Terror, the 4A is pretty much a dead letter. I'm sure whatever tatters are left will be swept away by whatever we declare "war" on next.

[MarieKristiansen]

I­ g­e­t­ p­a­i­d­ o­v­e­r­ 220 D­­­­­­­­­­o­­lla­­­­rs p­e­r­ h­o­u­r­ w­o­r­k­i­n­g­ f­r­o­m­ h­o­m­e­ w­i­t­h­ 2 k­i­d­s­ a­t­ h­o­m­e­. i­ n­e­v­e­r­ t­h­o­u­g­h­t­ i­’d­ b­e­ a­b­l­e­ t­o­ d­o­ i­t­ b­u­t­ m­y­ b­e­s­t­ f­r­i­e­n­d­ e­a­r­n­s­ o­v­e­r­ 15k­ a­ m­o­n­t­h­ d­o­i­n­g­ t­h­i­s­ a­n­d­ s­h­e­ c­o­n­v­i­n­c­e­d­ m­e­ t­o­ t­r­y­. it was all true and has totally ch­a­n­g­e­d­ ­m­y­ l­i­f­e­. T­h­i­s­ ­i­s­ ­w­h­a­t­ ­I­ ­d­o­,­ ­c­h­e­c­k­ ­i­t­ ­o­u­t­ ­b­y­ ­V­i­s­i­t­i­n­g ­F­o­l­l­o­w­i­­n­­g ­W­e­b­s­­i­t­e

Click Here.. →→ http://Www.Easywork7.com