http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIvwgW5KuHo

Feb 15, 2011

TSA supervisor at Newark Liberty Airport has pleaded guilty in a federal court to multiple counts of theft, as well as admitting to taking bribes and kickbacks from another TSA worker to "look the other way", while the agent he was supervising stole more money from travelers.

Michael Arato faces a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for stealing up to $700 per day from passengers for eight years.

Arato also allowed another worker to steal up to $30,000 in cash from traveller's bags over a 13-month period, pocketing a share of the ill gotten gains himself. The court heard that the pair specifically targeted foreign travelers, mostly Indian women, who could not speak English and discussed how they should not feel bad about stealing from them because they were leaving the U.S. with "our money".