TSA Agent in NY Charged With Molesting Traveler in Bogus Search

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as having said, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." While many consider Franklin a visionary, it's doubtful that America's founding fathers could have foreseen the fondling of fathers, mothers and everyone else attempting to depart from US airports by the 50,000+ employees of the country's Transportation Security Administration.

The agency's pat-down procedure has remained largely unquestioned by the majority of people who make use of US airports. Now, however, a TSA agent may be sent to jail for unlawfully groping a young woman, giving a new meaning to the schoolboy expression 'cop a feel'.

The 40-year-old suspect Maxie Oquendo brought the woman in an airport bathroom on Thursday while wearing a TSA uniform, which constituted sufficient grounds for a 22-year-old traveler to follow him, said a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Joe Pentangelo.

"Supposedly he took her into another area using his official position, being in uniform, and she thought it was a part of his official duty," Pentangelo said.

Oquendo was arrested for forcible touching, official misconduct and unlawful imprisonment, the Port Authority police said, adding that it was impossible to immediately provide Oquendo with an attorney.

"TSA is working in close partnership with the Port Authority Police Department in support of this investigation," TSA administrator Peter Neffenger said in a statement.

According to authorities, Oquendo was fired by the Transportation Security Administration the day after the incident.