Two TSA agents were busted today at Kennedy Airport for stealing $160,000 in cash from bags, authorities said.
Davon Webb, 30, and Couman Perad, (seem like WASP names to me /s) who turned 36 today, were arrested after admitting they had regularly stolen from checked bags, sources said.
In one instance, Perad, who joined the Transportation Security Administration in 2002, and Webb, who has been an agent since 2004, stole $39,000 on Jan. 30 from a bag at Terminal 8, sources said.
The passenger whose money was stolen was on his way to Argentina, sources said.
The $39,000 was later found in their homes after TSA notified Port Authority police, sources said.
Perad and Webb would screen bags looking for loot, then swipe the cash once the luggage was opened in a private screening room, sources said.
The men will be charged with grand larceny, possession of stolen property and official misconduct.
In a statement, TSA said it has "a zero-tolerance policy on theft in the workplace" and called the incidents "a disgrace."
Also today, the TSA confirmed that a string of security lapses took place at Newark Airport within the past month, the Newark Star-Ledger reported.
A knife inside a carry-on made it past a checkpoint and two passengers were allowed to board flights despite issues with their full-body scans, TSA officials told the newspaper.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two incidents were among a string of five security lapses at Newark within the last 30 days.
Another incident reported by the officials involved a dead dog that was brought to the airport by its owner and loaded onto a Continental Airlines jet without ever being screened.
TSA officials had reportedly ordered that the dog's carcass be screened, but it never happened.
Newark airport averages about one security breach every couple of months, according to the newspaper.
