A former flight attendant for American Airlines, accused by prosecutors of “exploiting his position of trust” to covertly film and “take advantage of” unsuspecting young girls in airplane restrooms, received a sentence in Boston federal court on Wednesday.
Estes Carter Thompson III, hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced to 18 and a half years in prison, with an additional five years of supervised release, as stated in court records.
In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors outlined how Thompson preyed on unaccompanied minors, enticing them to bathrooms where he had hidden a camera for “his own sexual satisfaction.”
“Estes Carter Thompson III took advantage of his position of trust as a flight attendant to select among the passengers on his flights innocent children who he could exploit, directing them to an aircraft bathroom that he had set up as a secret recording studio, recording videos of the children’s bodies in one of their most private moments, and then storing, editing, and revisiting those videos, all for his own sexual gratification,” the memo said. “In so doing, he robbed five young girls of their innocence and belief in the goodness of the world and the people they would encounter in it, instead leaving them with fear, mistrust, insecurity, and sadness.”
A lawyer representing the victims’ families, Paul Llewellyn, praised the outcome of Estes Carter Thompson III’s sentencing. (KDFW)
American Airlines previously apologized after the company’s “outside counsel” appeared to blame one of the victims in a prior court filing, evoking outrage from the lawyer representing the victims. The filing said the girl “knew or should have known” that the lavatory “contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
According to a civil lawsuit, the girl took a photo of the phone taped to the toilet seat and showed it to her parents back at their seats. Her father then made a beeline for the plane’s flight attendants with the photo and yelled, “What the hell just happened in the first-class bathroom with my daughter?”
American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on Thursday.
Thompson will serve his sentence at FMC Butner in North Carolina and intends to undergo both sex offender-specific treatment and substance abuse treatment, according to the sentencing memo.
His attorney, Scott Lauer, declined to comment to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
Fox News’ Chris Eberhart and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
