Flight Attendant Charged With Secretly Recording Teen On Boston Flight

BOSTON, MA — The American Airlines flight attendant who was accused in September of secretly recording a 14-year-old girl while she was using the plane's restroom on a flight to Boston has been identified and charged, officials announced Thursday.

Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is also accused of possessing recordings of four additional minor female passengers using the restroom aboard the plane he had previously worked on, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts.

Thompson was arrested in Lynchburg, Virginia Thursday and charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, officials said.

He will remain in custody pending his initial appearance in the Western District of Virginia and appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, according to officials.

According to charging documents, during the Sept. 2 flight, the girl was waiting to use the bathroom in the economy section — where she was sitting with her family — when Thompson encouraged her to use the first-class bathroom instead.

Before the girl entered the bathroom, Thompson went in himself and said he needed to wash his hands, officials said.

About a minute later, the girl said she was in the bathroom when she noticed an iPhone taped to the toilet with its camera flash on, according to officials.

When the girl returned to her seat, she informed her parents of what she saw and showed them a photo she had taken of the iPhone taped to the toilet, officials said.

"The victim’s parents reported the matter to other flight attendants onboard, who notified the Captain, who in turn notified law enforcement on the ground," officials wrote in Thursday's news release. "It is alleged that the victim’s father confronted Thompson who, shortly thereafter, locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes prior to the flight’s descent," according to officials.

During that time, Thompson appears to have wiped his phone clean, officials said.

According to a Dec. 1 report in The Associated Press, the girl's family sued American Airlines and said that they had been told that Thompson, who hadn't been publicly named at the time, couldn't be arrested because authorities did not find any incriminating photos or videos when they checked his phone.

Meanwhile, officials said Thursday that a search of Thompson’s iCloud account revealed four additional instances between January and August 2023 in which Thompson recorded a minor using the restroom on a plane, officials said. It is unclear at what point this evidence was discovered.

"The minor victims allegedly depicted in the surreptitious recordings were seven, nine, 11, and 14 years old at the time," officials wrote in Thursday's news release. "Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were allegedly 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."

All of the children depicted in these images have been identified and their families have been contacted by law enforcement, officials said.

Thompson is also accused of storing hundreds of images of AI-generated child pornography on his iCloud account, according to officials.

The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children provides for a sentence of at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, while the charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, officials said. 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.