Customs Officer From LI Admits To Stealing From Travelers: Feds

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who worked customs at JFK International Airport was arrested on Thursday for stealing from travelers as he was examining their belongings, authorities said.

Joseph Cialone, 39, of East Meadow, admitted to officers that he would steal $100 bills from women's purses while examining their bags during security checks at the airport, prosecutors said. It total, Cialone is accused of stealing from more than 100 travelers over the course of a year.

Court documents detailed how, between April 2018 and April 2019, Cialone developed a system to rob the travelers. The documents allege that, while conducting searches wearing latex gloves, he would pull $100 bills from women's purses and hold them in his fist. He would then pull the glove off over his fist, keeping the bill inside, and put it in his pocket. He would later go to the bathroom, where he would put the stolen money into his wallet.

Cialone told investigators that he purposefully searched women with large purses because the larger bags made it easier to hid his hand movements, the court documents read.

He was found out after a passenger complained to CBP that $100 was missing from her purse. It sparked an investigation, which lead to examination of surveillance video that showed Cialone stealing multiple times.

While being searched after his arrest, court documents say that agents found three latex gloves on Cialone, two of which contained $100 bills. All told, he stole at least $10,000 from passengers, prosecutors said.