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Newark airport security screener charged with stealing $495 from passenger's purse

NEWARK — It is an essential act of trust, repeated endlessly at airports around the globe. Passengers hand over purses, briefcases and backpacks to security screeners authorized to inspect travelers’ most personal — and perhaps valuable — possessions. Call it a social compact for the safety of air travel. But, authorities say, that compact was broken earlier this year at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal C by an employee for the Transportation Security Administration. Leroy Ray, of Newark, was charged today in federal court with pocketing $495 while inspecting a woman’s purse. Prosecutors say the 44-year-old screener, who has worked for the TSA since 2002, searched the handbag on Feb. 3 after it emerged from an X-ray machine in a plastic bin. Minutes later, the woman complained the money was missing.

Ray said he had turned the money in to lost and found. But prosecutors say security cameras indicate otherwise. In a criminal complaint, authorities contend video footage clearly shows Ray put something in his back pocket after searching the purse. Ray is charged with embezzlement and lying to investigators. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, said Zach Intrater, an assistant U.S. attorney. Ray is not the first TSA employee to be charged with theft. Since 2007, 23 security officers have been fired nationwide for stealing from screening areas or from checked baggage, said Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman. Last year, a former screener at Newark Liberty pleaded guilty to pilfering between $200,000 and $400,000 worth of electronics and jewelry from baggage.

Davis said the TSA takes theft very seriously. "TSA employs a workforce of more than 50,000 hard-working, dedicated men and women whose character and reputation should not be tarnished by the actions of a few," she said. Ray appeared for a brief hearing in Newark today, wearing jeans and a blue jacket. His lawyer, Brian P. Hill, said Ray plans to plead not guilty. "He is maintaining his innocence all the way through in this case," Hill said. Ray was released on $1,000 bail and remains on unpaid suspension from the TSA pending the outcome of the criminal case. His lawyer described him as an upstanding father of four who grew up in Newark and is currently employed by a security firm. "He is just a hard working regular guy," Hill said. The attorney called Ray’s work record "spotless." The airport video, he said, is inconclusive.

But authorities contend the footage is clear. They said it shows a woman in her 50s approach Ray’s security lane in a wheelchair. When her purse emerges from the X-ray machine, Ray carries it to a nearby table. Wearing gloves, he searches the inside of the bag, authorities said. He removes the gloves with his hands still inside the purse, then shoves them into his back pocket, authorities said. Ray returns the purse and tosses the gloves in the garbage. But a bulge indicates something else was still in his back pocket, authorities said. Then, according to the complaint, the woman headed back to the screening area and said she was missing money, including $300 in a white envelope and $195 in a plastic bag.

Authorities said Ray then walked abruptly to the supervisor’s office, pulled a white object from his pocket and placed it on the lost-and-found tray. While creased several times, the envelope still contained the $300 when officials handed it back to the woman, authorities said. The $195 was never found. The woman headed off to her plane. And the TSA began an internal probe.