UPDATE: American Airlines Flight Attendant Sentenced To 18+ Years In Prison For Secretly Filming Girls In Lavatory
A former American Airlines flight attendant has been sentenced to 18.5 years in federal prison for secretly filming young girls as they used airplane lavatories during flights.
Estes Carter Thompson III, of Charlotte, North Carolina, used his position as a flight attendant between January and September 2023 to direct minors to specific lavatories onboard aircraft, where he had covertly set up his cellphone to record them. Prosecutors described it as a “secret recording studio” he created while working flights for American Airlines.
According to court documents, Thompson lured at least five girls into the first class lavatory under false pretenses, including one incident on a September 2, 2023 flight from Charlotte (CLT) to Boston (BOS), where he told a 14-year-old girl the main cabin lavatories were full and escorted her to the front of the aircraft.
He warned her the toilet seat was broken and had even applied red “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” stickers to disguise his setup. After using the restroom, the girl noticed the stickers and saw an iPhone with its flashlight on tucked under the seat lid. She alerted her parents, who reported it to the crew. Her father confronted Thompson, who then locked himself in a lavatory and performed a factory reset on the device to wipe evidence.
Investigators later accessed Thompson’s iCloud account and uncovered four other instances in which he had recorded minors in airplane lavatories, as well as 50 images of a sixth child, an unaccompanied minor, including photos of the child sleeping and of her clothed buttocks. Prosecutors also discovered hundreds of AI-generated images depicting child sexual abuse, along with multiple American Airlines forms for unaccompanied minors and eleven of the same “inoperative” stickers he used to conceal his phone.
Thompson pleaded guilty in March 2025 to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick called Thompson’s crimes “appalling” and said he had robbed his victims of their innocence. She sentenced him to 18.5 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release thereafter. Thompson must also register as a sex offender and participate in treatment programs while incarcerated.
In a statement read in court, Thompson admitted his actions were “selfish, perverse, and wrong.” His attorney cited substance abuse and mental health issues in arguing for a 15-year sentence, but prosecutors sought 20 years. The final sentence fell just short of the government’s recommendation.
American Airlines said Thompson was immediately removed from service following the incident last fall, and reiterated its zero-tolerance policy for criminal misconduct by employees.
This is an update to my original story, below.
An update to the story about the American Airlines flight attendant who has been accused of surreptitiously filming a teenage girl in the lavatory of a flight: he has now been arrested and evidence of additional acts have been found on his phone.
American Airlines Flight Attendant Arrested After Evidence Emerges He Secretly Filmed FIVE Teenage Girls In Aircraft Lavatory
The trigger incident occurred last September. A 14-year-old girl rose to use the lavatory in economy class. There was a line. A male flight attendant approached her and told her she could use the first class lavatory, but he needed to wash his hands first. He remained in the lavatory for approximately one minute. Stepping out of the lavatory, he told her that the toilet seat was broken (not the toilet itself).
When she entered the lavatory, she purportedly observed red tape over the toilet seat, but then noticed a mobile camera taped on the seat. The camera (flash) light was on, suggesting it was recording. She snapped a picture of it (below).
Upon stepping out of the lavatory, the same flight attendant went back in and came out moments later.
She reported the suspicious phone to her mother, who stopped other passengers from entering the lavatory. Police were notified and met the aircraft in Boston.
The family has since sued American Airlines and the flight attendant.
> Read More: Teenage Girl Found Hidden Camera On American Airlines Aircraft Toilet (Photo)
> Read More: Family Sues American Airlines Over Flight Attendant Who Placed Camera In Lavatory To Surreptitiously Film Teenage Girl
Now, federal prosecutors have arrested the (former) American Airlines flight attendant, identified as 37-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Thompson was found allegedly in possession of recordings of four additional minor female passengers who had used lavatories aboard the same aircraft (on different flights).
When investigators met Thompson in Boston, he had already restored the iPhone to factory settings, but in searching his baggage investigators found 11 additional “inoperative catering equipment” stickers identical to what had been used to secure the phone to the toilet seat lid.
Upon searching his iCloud account, they found four additional instances from the period of January – August 2023 in which a minor was recorded in the lavatory. Those victims were 7, 9, 11, and 14 years old. Police also found over 50 images of a 9-year-old unaccompanied minor who had flown with Thompson (these were not sexual in nature, but included close-ups of the kid while she was sleeping).
He has been charged with two counts, including:
- attempted sexual exploitation of children
- possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor
U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy explained:
“The deeply disturbing conduct alleged here is something no parent or child should ever have to worry about when they travel. Mr. Thompson allegedly used his position to prey on and surreptitiously record innocent children, including unaccompanied minors, while in a vulnerable state aboard flights he was working.”
CONCLUSION
Estes Carter Thompson III was detained for one act of placing a mobile phone in an aircraft lavatory to record a teen minor but has now been arrested for at least five such instances as revealed by his iCloud account. American Airlines has said it is horrified by the incident and cooperating with law enforcement officials in the investigation.
image: Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority
What a dope! (and perv) Not to obvious of what’s under the Red stickers!
How is the giant light not obvious?
I wish AA gave him one last flight to Guatemala or Honduras where their prisons are like 5 star resorts. He would learn so much about filming there.
Shocked he didn’t ask for a transfer to SE Asian flights, where his deviant behavior is not only acceptable but even encouraged by certain tourism companies with a wink/wink.
And no, I don’t believe everyone that visits there just wants to F kids, it can’t be more than 80% of visitors, 85% tops.
And we are not much better as it will be determined he has a “problem” and needs help instead of rotting in a jail cell the rest of his life as he deserves.
I think he’ll get a pretty lengthy sentence for this if convicted, and rightfully so.
I suspect it will be treated as a federal case, and if they have the digital evidence that we are lead to believe they have, the conviction rate is very, very high. If convicted, he’ll spend the rest of his life on the sex offenders registry, which some offenders say is actually worse than the prison time.
Dave, you seem to have more than a passing interest in the crime & punishment details.
Of course Douchebag Dave Edwards has “more than a passing interest”, he’s done the exact same thing many times, with his BFF Chit Hsuan, while he’s flying somewhere to “F kids”, and so far gotten away with it. It’s his way of getting psyched to “F kids”. Douchebag Dave Edwards also knows about “r#ped in prison daily” from personal experience.
An undoubtedly Thompson has little to worry about, Douchebag Dave Edwards’ hero Douchebag Donnie, will probably pardon him next week because “he wasn’t treated fairly”. If there’s anything Douchebag Donnie loves more than money, it’s sexual predators, bullies (and dictators).
This is why we need patience for a proper investigation. Thank you to law enforcement and the brave child and her parents. Now we leave it justice to remove a pervert from ever having a chance to harm another child.
His defense in court, “I am primarily on board for passenger safety.”
Matthew, I seem to recall that a significant number of readers doubted the story when you first reported it, going as far as gaslighting the teenage victim and questioning the motivations behind her mother’s outrage. Called the girl a liar and the mum a Karen. And sided with the perv in a misguided and improper application of the principle innocent until proven guilty: there was already more than enough evidence to suspect the FA had engaged in illicit conduct, in the form of witness testimony and a picture of the phone he strapped to the toilet seat. What investigators subsequently found in the FA’s iCloud account validates the accusation the girl & mum made against him.
I hope all those who made horrible comments back then come back here and acknowledge how wrong they were. Admit that facts as straightforward as these (I’ll say it again: there was even a picture of the phone strapped to the lavatory, for crying out loud!) cannot be twisted or contested. And that not everything is a conspiracy waiting to crumble in an “aha!” moment.
What I dislike about the family who brought the attention to light is that they’re coming after AA for money for something that largely didn’t cause any actual damage to their child since she avoided the camera to begin with. What is the airline’s liability here? They need to have training videos “Don’t do illegal stuff on planes?”
I come from a generation when we walked uphill in the snow to school, both ways. I remember when perverts were hanging around in shopping mall bathrooms watching us kids pee at the urinals. Discomforting but I didn’t get traumatized over it. In the meantime, we have far more damaging stuff normalized such as white male guilt, trans sexual men in bathrooms, assault in NYC subways and the like but hey, that’s PC so who cares?
Yeah, good luck outside of the western world with that.
An AA flight attendant allegedly committed a crime and is being prosecuted accordingly. Trying to somehow justify this by instead ranting on about transgender folks and bathroom use is absurd.
His rants are something, thats for sure.
I expressed some doubt when I saw how absurdly obvious his attempt to conceal the camera could be. But this guy will, nonetheless, now rot in jail and get his just rewards. I will never apologize for expressing doubt on anything– let alone a public news story. I’m not sure what country you’re from, but where I’m from in the USA, free expression of though, and presumed innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law are two cornerstones of our society. Ubi dubium, ibi libertas.
General population-problem sorted….
I hope this is just one bad apple in our human population. But unfortunately, it’s not. We also have thieves, murderers, drug addicts, rapists, serial killers, scammers, etc., Just be careful out there.
I agree with Polish Prince…how is this so “traumatizing” that it warrants AA being sued? We’re a nation of money grabbers who search out opportunities such as this. We’re overblowing incidents such as these which will only dilute the importance of real incidents that cause trauma. Not saying this guy shouldn’t be punished, but come on…why must the family sue?!
This sentence is justice. What the FA did was really bad so 18 years. The FA did not rape or kill anyone, though. In southern California, a man shot someone dead and got 35 years to life and he was paroled after about 30 years. I think this FA’s crime was less than 18/35th of murder. However, rather than reduce his sentence, a murder sentence should be increased from 35 years. 50 years should be the standard.
I’ve always been bemused by the long sentences given to felons in the United States. Thirty years in prison is a long, long time. The US system centres revenge & retribution, with zero interest in rehabilitation. Having elected judges is a big part of the problem. Giving too much weight to hysterical “victim” statements at parole hearings years or decades after the fact is another. If you’re still burning with rage about the death of your loved-one after twenty or thirty years, then you have a serious problem with complex grief that has broken your brain, and you need to see a psychologist/psychiatrist as soon as possible. If you’d done that in the first place it wouldn’t have eaten you inside for so long. The person who committed the crime is usually a completely different person to the day they offended, but if you’re not then yeah…that makes it a you problem. Get help, and in the meantime, let the parole board do their job.
I thought the same regarding the comments. All societies have their flaws (hence why travel is wonderful to help us escape our fish-tank water consciousness) and our society is currently undergoing an existential crisis: 1/2 of the population is estranged from the other, feels offended their presence, and disenfranchised. A society in our state has a tendency to look for someone to be disparaged, shamed, and brutalized to satiate unsatisfied sadistic justice. The guy took photos of young girls’ private parts so brutally sodomize him in prison. Doesn’t seem proportionately appropriate, but it FEELS good to someone whose lived their entire life under the thumb of 1/2 of society. It also is a cheap way to feel and signal virtue: Nothing shows you care more about children than cheering on a prison rape.
The real story here was AA had a straight male FA.
But the sentence fits the crime as long as he serves most of it, and gets r#ped in prison daily.
I noticed the same thing! I was about to say how odd it is that, unlike the vast majority of male FAs, this guy ISNT an insatiable anal-loving power bottom like Aaron. No, he’s an entirely different kind of pervert!
No pardons for pedophiles please.
That would include convicted conman Trump, and his fun with Epstein’s group.
Yes please! Everyone that participated. Including this rather secretive Maxwell interview. I smell a hush pardon in the works.
Not only sick–trying to outsmart a 14-yr. old, inseparable from her own smartphone, is just stupid.
No statement from his union?
He’s going to be popular in prison.
Of course Douchebag Dave Edwards has “more than a passing interest”, he’s done the exact same thing many times, with his BFF Chit Hsuan, while he’s flying somewhere to “F kids”, and so far gotten away with it. It’s his way of getting psyched to “F kids”. Douchebag Dave Edwards also knows about “r#ped in prison daily” from personal experience.
An undoubtedly Thompson has little to worry about, Douchebag Dave Edwards’ hero Douchebag Donnie, will probably pardon him next week because “he wasn’t treated fairly”. If there’s anything Douchebag Donnie loves more than money, it’s sexual predators, bullies (and dictators).
Dear Leader thinks we should not worry about this and move on.