FAST FACTS:
- TSA Officer Arrested Wednesday
- Ricky German charged with theft from a passenger
- German will go before a judge Friday
tom.powell@wreg.com
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(MEMPHIS Updated: January 28, 2011 8:58 PM) — The local union for TSA Security Officers listed Ricky German as Vice President of NTEU Chapter 321 early Friday. Officer Ricky German is charged with stealing a passenger’s laptop computer on December 20, 2011. He was arrested Wednesday.
WREG News Channel 3 requested comment from the union Friday afternoon. We received the following statement, “It is NTEU’s standard policy not to comment at this stage of a personnel incident.”
Late Friday night, German’s name was removed from the local chapter’s website. We called the number that was listed for German on the site and left a message. So far, German has not responded to the allegations.
(Memphis1/27/2011) A TSA Security Officer working at Memphis International Airport was arrested Wednesday.
48-year-old Ricky German is charged with Theft of Property.
Police say the arrest stems from an incident on December 20th, after a passenger from New York left his laptop computer in the baggage claim area.
Musician Chase Anderson was in Memphis to play a gig. He says he didn’t realize he left his laptop on a bench until after he left the airport. Anderson and his brother returned to the airport.
Anderson says he filled out a police report upstairs, while his brother stopped to talk to Officer German downstairs.
“My brother noticed his jacket seemed to be folded in a perfect rectangle about the size of a laptop,” Anderson says.
According to the Affidavit of Complaint filed against German, he “ tossed the coat with the laptop on a bench and said he found the laptop.” Police say he did that after “ it was said that airport surveillance video would be checked.”
A TSA spokesman says German is “No longer assigned to the airport or security duties.”
The TSA also released the following statement:
“Security is our highest priority. Our highly trained workforce screens nearly 2 million passengers every day to ensure they arrive safely at their destinations. We hold our employees to the highest professional and ethical standards. TSA has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior and acts swiftly when proper protocols are not followed. We aggressively investigate allegations of theft and move swiftly to end the federal careers of offenders. The inappropriate actions of a few individuals in no way reflect on the outstanding work of the more than 50,000 transportation security officers who work tirelessly to keep our skies safe.”
German was released from the Shelby County Jail Thursday on his own recognizance, and is scheduled to go before a judge Friday.