Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Flight attendant who filmed underage girls using the bathroom sentenced to 18.5 years in prison
Estes Carter Thompson III “robbed five young girls of their innocence and belief in the goodness of the world and the people they would encounter in it,” prosecutors said.
A former American Airlines flight attendant was sentenced to 18.5 years in prison Wednesday after he secretly filmed a teen girl in the bathroom of a Boston-bound flight and possessed recordings of four other underage girls using airplane restrooms.
Estes Carter Thompson III, 38, of North Carolina, pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. He will also serve five years of supervised release following his prison sentence, court records show.
Prosecutors had asked for a 20-year prison sentence, while Thompson’s defense attorney sought 15 years. Thompson’s attorney declined to comment on the sentencing Wednesday.
Previously:
In March, federal prosecutors said authorities found videos on Thompson’s iCloud account of girls aged 7, 9, 11, and 14 being secretly recorded in an airplane restroom. Also found on the account were AI-generated child sexual abuse images and more than 50 images of a 9-year-old girl who was flying as an unaccompanied minor.
Advertisement:
Investigators have identified all the minors and contacted their families, prosecutors said in a news release at the time.
The secret recordings came to light after a 14-year-old girl on a Boston-bound flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, noticed a concealed iPhone in one of the airplane’s bathrooms on Sept. 2, 2023. The girl snapped a picture to show her parents, and the teen’s father confronted Thompson, who had used the restroom before her.
In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, federal prosecutors accused Thompson of singling out children, “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.”
Advertisement:
In doing so, they alleged, “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.”
In the defense team’s sentencing memorandum, Thompson’s attorney acknowledged the facts and circumstances of his crimes were “serious and disturbing.” However, the defense memorandum also emphasized Thompson’s lack of prior criminal history and his track record of alcohol abuse and mental health issues.
“He fully acknowledges the wrongfulness of his conduct and is remorseful for the harm he has caused,” the memorandum reads. “At the same time, he has also come to view this arrest as a much-needed intervention and opportunity to address the corrosive behaviors which resulted in his offenses.”
Thompson’s parents also wrote to Judge Julia E. Kobick, saying their son hopes to further his education in prison and potentially work with other sex offenders in some capacity.
While Wednesday’s sentencing resolves Thompson’s criminal case, American Airlines still faces a civil lawsuit in Texas from the family of one of Thompson’s victims. Paul Llewellyn, whose law firm Lewis & Llewellyn is representing the child’s family, said it’s “deeply troubling” Thompson was able to exploit his position “in such a calculated and invasive way.”
Advertisement:
“We are pleased that the perpetrator has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term so that he can no longer prey on young girls,” Llewellyn said in a statement. “But no family should ever have to endure what these families have gone through.”
He added: “American Airlines owes these families — and the public — answers and meaningful reforms to ensure this can never happen again.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com