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Flight attendant who filmed underage girls using the bathroom pleads guilty
“We are pleased to hear that the American Airlines flight attendant who preyed on at least five young girls as they used the airplane bathroom has pled guilty for his depraved crimes,” an attorney for two of the girls said.
A former American Airlines flight attendant has pleaded guilty to secretly filming a teen girl in the bathroom of a Boston-bound flight in 2023 and possessing recordings of four other underage girls using airplane restrooms, according to federal prosecutors.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
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Authorities found videos on Thompson’s iCloud account of girls aged 7, 9, 11, and 14 being secretly recorded in an airplane restroom, federal prosecutors said in a press release. The account also showed AI-generated child sexual abuse images and more than 50 images of a 9-year-old girl who was flying as an unaccompanied minor, including pictures that showed her “seated in her seat pre-flight and close-ups of her face while sleeping.”
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Authorities have identified all the minors and contacted their families, according to the release.
Thompson faces 15 to 20 years in prison under the terms of his plea agreement. U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick scheduled his sentencing for June 17. Thompson’s defense attorney declined to comment.
“We are pleased to hear that the American Airlines flight attendant who preyed on at least five young girls as they used the airplane bathroom has pled guilty for his depraved crimes,” said Paul Llewellyn, whose law firm Lewis & Llewellyn LLP has represented two of Thompson’s victims in civil lawsuits against American Airlines. “We commend the US Attorney’s Office for its work on the criminal case in bringing this felon to justice.”
Thompson’s surreptitious recordings came to light after a 14-year-old girl on a Boston-bound flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, spotted a concealed iPhone in one of the airplane’s bathrooms on Sept. 2, 2023.
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Prosecutors said Thompson entered the restroom before the teen, ostensibly to wash his hands. When the girl entered, she noticed red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid that read, “INOPERATIVE CATERING EQUIPMENT” and “REMOVE FROM SERVICE.” A handwritten message on one of the stickers read, “SEAT BROKEN,” prosecutors said.
Thompson had used the stickers to conceal his iPhone, and the girl snapped a picture to show her parents when she returned to her seat, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The teen’s father confronted Thompson, “who then locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes prior to the flight’s descent,” prosecutors said.
Lewis & Llewellyn has filed two lawsuits against American Airlines — one in North Carolina on behalf of the teen on the Boston-bound flight, and another in Texas on behalf of a 9-year-old girl. In May, American Airlines said it was walking back its claim that the 9-year-old “should have known” the toilet contained a recording device.
The company said the defense did not represent its stance and blamed the error on its outside legal counsel.
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“We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously,” American Airlines told Boston.com at the time. “Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.”
Llewellyn confirmed lawyers recently reached an undisclosed settlement in the North Carolina lawsuit, which has since been dismissed. He said the Texas lawsuit remains pending, with a jury trial set to begin July 21.
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