Ex-American Airlines flight attendant sentenced to 18 years in prison for filming young girls using bathroom on Boston flight
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In this photo provided by the law firm Lewis & Llewellyn LLP, an iPhone is taped to the back of a toilet seat on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Boston, on Sept. 2, 2023.
Uncredited/Associated Press
'He robbed five young girls of their innocence and belief in the goodness of the world and the people they would encounter in it, instead leaving them with fear, mistrust, insecurity and sadness,' Leah B. Foley, the US attorney for the District of Massachusetts, wrote in the memo.
In March, under the terms of a plea agreement, Thompson pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
Prosecutors sought a 20-year prison sentence while Thompson's lawyer, Scott Lauer, requested 15 years, court records show.
Although Thompson's conduct was 'serious and disturbing,' it was 'purely voyeuristic,' Lauer wrote in a sentencing memo, noting that Thompson had never before been in trouble with the law.
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'Mr. Thompson's conduct took place at a time in his life when he was isolated, struggling with depression and excessive alcohol use,' Lauer wrote.
Thompson has 'come to view this arrest as a much-needed intervention and opportunity to address the corrosive behaviors which resulted in his offenses,' Lauer's memo said. 'Now sober and with a better appreciation of the need for sex offender specific treatment, Mr. Thompson intends to avail himself of necessary rehabilitative services to the fullest extent possible.'
According to prosecutors, Thompson had worked for American Airlines for more than a decade when he attempted to record the 14-year-old girl on Sept. 2, 2023.
The girl was waiting for a bathroom in the main cabin when Thompson told her she could use the first-class bathroom and escorted her to the front of the plane. He told her the toilet seat was broken.
The girl noticed red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid that read 'INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT' with 'SEAT BROKEN' handwritten on one of the stickers. It wasn't until after she flushed that she noticed an iPhone with its flashlight on under the stickers, court documents said.
The girl took photos of the phone and told her parents, who told the crew. Her father confronted Thompson, who locked himself in the bathroom with his phone and restored the device to factory settings, wiping it clean, documents said.
When investigators searched Thompson's iCloud account, they found evidence of the four other incidents. They also found 50 images of a child who flew as an unaccompanied minor on a flight in July 2023.
'The joy and innocence that once lit her face have been replaced by distance and caution,' one of the girl's parents said in an impact statement.
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'She didn't just lose her innocence that day — she lost her sense of the world," the parent said.
According to court documents, the parent of another one of the girls said, 'no child, especially during their formative years, should be burdened with such a horrific truth. The innocence she once had has been stolen.'
At Thompson's sentencing hearing Wednesday, US District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick said his behavior was 'appalling.' She sentenced Thompson to 222 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.
Kobick also ordered Thompson to undergo substance abuse and sex offender treatment programs.
Thompson apologized in court, according to the Associated Press. He said his actions were 'selfish, perverse, and wrong.'
Tonya Alanez can be reached at
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