It’s normal for United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to inspect passengers upon arrival, including their belongings. However, you’d certainly hope that they don’t steal from you. Well, that’s exactly what one officer was repeatedly doing at a Florida airport, as flagged by PYOK.
In this post:
US CBP officer stole from passengers at Naples Airport
A 43-year-old former US CBP officer has plead guilty to stealing cash from arriving international passengers during the course of his official duties.
The officer worked at Naples Municipal Airport (APF) in Florida, which doesn’t have commercial service. Therefore he was stealing from passengers traveling on private aircraft. Between the middle of 2023 and early 2024, the officer stole at least $18,700 in cash from arriving passenger, across 17 separate incidents.
Evidence collected by the CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility shows that the officer was surreptitiously stealing cash from arriving international passengers during border enforcement examinations and currency verifications performed as part of his official duties.
For example, in one instance, on May 24, 2023, the officer stole $2,200 while counting cash during an inspection of a passenger arriving from the Bahamas. The passenger had quite a large sum of cash, and the officer put the money in different stacks, and placed a customs and immigration form on top of one of the stacks. He then ended up taking the form, as well as the cash underneath it, with him.
While the passengers involved in the incident didn’t immediately report this to CBP, they did report it to the private jet pilot, who in turn contacted CBP. That’s when the above investigation started, which revealed that this was a pattern of behavior.
As part of his plea agreement, the officer has agreed to pay full restitution to the victims of his theft, and he has further agreed to immediately resign from his job. He now faces up to 10 years in federal prison, though a sentencing date hasn’t yet been set.
This seems like a really stupid crime to commit
Of course there are going to be bad apples in every line of work, and a vast majority of CBP officers aren’t stealing from passengers.
Here’s the part that gets me, though. If you’re going to commit a crime and steal from people, this seems like a really dumb way to go about it. It’s extremely high risk and low reward, if you ask me. Across all of these thefts, he basically stole an average of around $1,000 per incident.
I suppose his logic was probably that he assumed it wouldn’t be enough money for the people being stolen from to notice, since they had large amounts of money. However, all it takes is one person to notice, and your career could be over and you could be in jail. Is it really worth risking such a serious punishment to steal $1,000 or so at a time?
Look, I’m of course not advocating for committing any type of crime, but this just seems particularly high risk and low reward.
Bottom line
A US Customs and Border Protection officer has plead guilty to stealing cash from arriving international passengers during routine inspections. The officer stole a total of at least $18,700, across at least 17 separate incidents. He now faces up to 10 years in prison.
What do you make of this CBP officer’s theft?
We only know of the ones he admitted to!! Just think of how many didn't report an incident with this agent for they didn't want to bring attention to themselves.
As any good defense lawyer tells his client, "Keep Your Mouth Shut!!!".
Don’t understand why is was allowed to resign, only executives get that benefit. He should have been fired,
Criminals like that, who breach the trust given to them as public officials, should be sentenced to life in prison and be done with them. We simply don't need those kind of people walking on the face of the Earth.
Give him the 10 plus 10 yrs probation.
Post on YouTube for Deterrence
Meanwhile, my son is laughing at this piker, stealing 20k, my son doesn't get out of bed for stealing less than 1M per incident! Ha ha, remember hunter,
10% to the Big Guy
I think besides the possible consequences listed he should have to pay extra to those that suffered and pay for their collection expenses.
Stealing from someone from the Bahamas or from a tax haven shouldn't constitute as theft. Most of the people arriving from these destinations are by and large stealing from the general public already so he's just taking his money back.
Most crime by nature is high risk, low reward due to the laws and draconian punishments we mete out in the US. Drug addicts are given harsh sentences instead of rehabilitative services.
Only time this doesn't apply is if you're rich and powerful, then you can get away with anything
I would say that this is lower risk than one might suspect. I think that this is much more common than people assume, and that very few get caught. I've seen more than a few bad apples at US border crossings, and I have seen officers abuse their authority at Mexican land crossings like San Ysidro and acting with complete impunity. There is clearly a culture problem at CBP and I think that is the...
I would say that this is lower risk than one might suspect. I think that this is much more common than people assume, and that very few get caught. I've seen more than a few bad apples at US border crossings, and I have seen officers abuse their authority at Mexican land crossings like San Ysidro and acting with complete impunity. There is clearly a culture problem at CBP and I think that is the result of the low accountability in that organization because people are very reluctant to go to higher authorities for fear of making their own lives difficult.
I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more. CBP agents are by and large rude, condescending, and seem to have a disdain for the traveling public. That doesn't instill faith, to me at least, that they're necessarily inclined to do the right thing.
They are also low IQ and are ignorant. Probably most of them are Republicans.
I’ve been through the process a couple of times (having cash counted by CBP) and when it was done it was done in an area that clearly was being surveilled /monitored - which makes this all the more stupid.
These modern day highwaymen are operating at US airports with impunity. Look up reports of them forcing pax to allow them to search their bags WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE. They wait until the moment a pax is going to board then threaten them with missing their flight if they don't allow the search. Then they'll seize cash, WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE, and put the burden on pax to prove it's legitimate. DOMESTIC flights too, not all international....
These modern day highwaymen are operating at US airports with impunity. Look up reports of them forcing pax to allow them to search their bags WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE. They wait until the moment a pax is going to board then threaten them with missing their flight if they don't allow the search. Then they'll seize cash, WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE, and put the burden on pax to prove it's legitimate. DOMESTIC flights too, not all international. They love to target ethnic minorities in ATL, MIA, FLL, etc. Look it up if you dont believe me, google "atlanta airport cash seized without cause"