A former American Airlines flight attendant has pleaded guilty to surreptitiously recording or attempting to record a minor female passenger using the lavatory aboard an aircraft in September 2023.
The defendant also pleaded guilty to possessing recordings of four additional minor female passengers using lavatories aboard the aircraft he had worked previously.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, of Charlotte, N.C., pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick scheduled sentencing for June 17, 2025. In April 2024, Thompson was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston.
On September 2, 2023, while working as a flight attendant onboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C. to Boston, Mass., Thompson video-recorded or attempted to surreptitiously video-record a 14-year-old female passenger as she used the lavatory.
Specifically, before the minor victim entered the lavatory, Thompson told her that he needed to wash his hands, and that the lavatory’s toilet seat was broken and briefly entered the lavatory.
After Thompson exited the lavatory, the minor victim entered and observed red stickers on the underside 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. Beneath the red stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video.
The minor victim informed her parents of what she saw and showed them the picture upon returning to her seat. The victim’s father confronted Thompson, who then locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes prior to the flight’s descent.
Upon the flight’s arrival at Boston’s Logan Airport, law enforcement observed that Thompson had restored his iPhone to factory settings. A subsequent search of Thompson’s suitcase was found to contain 11 ‘INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT’ stickers, like those observed by the minor victim on the back of the toilet seat.
A search of Thompson’s iCloud account revealed four additional instances between January and August 2023 in which Thompson recorded a minor using the lavatory on an aircraft. The minor victims depicted in the surreptitious recordings were seven, nine, 11 and 14 years old at the time.
Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were found in Thompson’s iCloud. The images included photos taken while the minor victim was seated in her seat pre-flight and close-ups of her face while sleeping.
Additionally, hundreds of AI-generated images depicting child sexual abuse were also found stored on Thompson’s iCloud account.
All minor victims involved in this matter have been identified, and their families have been contacted by law enforcement.
The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children provides for a sentence of at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution.
