The hostess is declared guilty of filming minor girls in the bathroom

Crime

“We are pleased to know that the American Airlines hostess took advantage of at least five young people while using the plane’s bathroom has declared guilty for their depraved crimes,” said a lawyer of two of the girls.

By Abby Patkin

March 7, 2025 | 1:46 pm

2 minutes to read

A former American Airlines hostess declared himself guilty of secret filming a teenage girl In the bathroom of a flight to Boston in 2023 and has recordings of four other minor girls using airplanes, according to federal prosecutors.

Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, from Charlotte, North Carolina, declared himself guilty on Thursday of the positions of sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography that represents a prepubescent minor, said the office of the United States lawyer.

The authorities found videos about the ICloud account of Thompson’s girls 7, 9, 11 and 14 years, secretly registered in a airplane bath, federal prosecutors said in a Press release. The account also showed images of child sexual abuse generated by AI and more than 50 images of a 9 -year -old girl who flew as an unaccompanied minor, including images that showed her “sitting in her seat before the flight and first planes of her face.”

The authorities have identified all minors and contacted their families, according to the statement.

Thompson faces 15 years in prison under the terms of his guilt. The judge of the United States District Court, Julia E. Kobick, scheduled her sentence for June 17. Thompson’s defense lawyer declined to comment.

“We are pleased to know that the American Airlines hostess took advantage of at least five young people while using the plane’s bathroom has declared guilty for their depraved crimes,” said Paul Llewelly, whose law firm Lewis & Llewellyn LLP has represented two of Thompson’s victims in civil lawsuits against US airlines. “We praise the United States prosecutor for their work in the criminal case to take this offender before justice.”

Thompson’s surreptitic recordings came to light after a 14 -year -old girl on a flight to Boston from Charlotte, North Carolina, saw an hidden iPhone in one of the bathrooms of the plane on September 2, 2023.

Prosecutors said Thompson entered the bathroom before the teenager, apparently to wash his hands. When the girl entered, she noticed red stickers at the bottom of the toilet seat cover that said “inoperative catering equipment” and “Remove from service.” A handwritten message in one of the stickers said: “Broken Seat,” prosecutors said.

Thompson had used the stickers to hide her iPhone, and the girl took a picture to show her parents when she returned to her seat, according to the office of the United States prosecutor. The teenager’s father faced Thompson, “who later locked himself in the bathroom with his iPhone for three or five minutes before the decline in the flight,” prosecutors said.

Lewis & Llewellyn has filed two demands against American Airlines, one in North Carolina in the name of the teenager on the flight to Boston, and another in Texas on behalf of a 9 -year -old girl. In May, American Airlines said it was walking back your claim That the 9 -year -old “should have known” the bathroom contained a recording device.

The company said the defense did not represent its position and blamed its error to its external legal advisor.

“We do not believe that this child is to blame and we take the accusations that involve a former team member very seriously,” American Airlines told Boston.com at that time. “Our main mission is to take care of people, and the basis of that is the safety of our clients and equipment.”

Llewellyn confirmed that lawyers recently reached an agreement not revealed in the lawsuit of North Carolina, which has since been dismissed. He said that Texas’s demand is still pending, with a jury trial scheduled to begin on July 21.

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches public transport, crime, health and everything else.