TSA worker, 23, who forced traveler to bare her breasts and looked down her pants in fake security check is jailed for 60 days
A former Transportation Security Administration agent who was accused of coercing a traveler into exposing her breasts as she went through security at Los Angeles International Airport has been sentenced to 60 days in county jail.
Johnathon Lomeli, 23, pleaded no contest on Friday to a felony count of false imprisonment. His sentence also includes 52 court-mandated classes addressing sexual compulsion and two years of probation.
Lomeli was additionally barred from ever working as a security guard.
Former TSA agent Johnathon Lomeli, 23, has pleaded no contest to a felony count of false imprisonment after being accused of tricking a traveler into showing her breasts (stock image)
'We all have the right to be treated with dignity and respect in all places. And no one is entitled to use a position of power to violate those rights,' Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. 'Why can't some men absorb that simple truth? This is 2021, not 1921. Today, Johnathon Lomeli learned this the hard way.'
Lomeli was arrested in February 2020 and charged with using fraud or deceit to falsely imprison the woman in June 2019.
The woman told investigators that Lomeli told her he had to look inside her bra to ensure she wasn't hiding anything, had her hold her pants away from her waist for a check, and then said he would take her to a private room for further security screening, prosecutors said.
But when they were alone on an elevator, Lomeli told the woman he could perform the screening there and ordered her to lift her shirt and show her 'full breasts,' then looked down her pants, she said.
The incident took place at Los Angeles International Airport in June 2019 as the victim went through security
Lomeli then told the woman she was free to go and added that she had nice breasts, authorities said.
'There is no excuse for this kind of alleged behavior,' Becerra said in a statement at thr time of Lomeli's arrest. 'it’s not okay on the street, it’s not okay in our schools, and it’s certainly not welcome at the airport.'
The TSA said that the former agent's conduct was 'unacceptable and an affront to the hardworking and committed members of our workforce.'
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