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Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said.
A 14-year-old aboard a Charlotte to Boston flight in September 2023 told her parents that Thompson had escorted her to the first-class bathroom while she waited for her turn in the lavatory in the main cabin. But before she could go in, Thompson went inside to "wash his hands," the prosecutor said. He told her the seat was broken.
The girl said the toilet seat had several stickers that read "Inoperative catering equipment," "seat broken," and "remove from service." Those stickers covered an iPhone, which was set to record the child as she went to the bathroom, prosecutors said.
Luckily, the girl noticed the camera and took a photo of the phone and stickers before returning to her seat. Thompson went back into the restroom as soon as she left, the prosecutor said.
The girl told her parents what she saw, and they informed the other flight attendants, who spoke with the captain. The captain contacted authorities.
The girl's father confronted the Thompson, who locked himself in the bathroom for several minutes until the plane began its descent into Boston Logan International Airport.
Police in Boston took Thompson's phone and found photos secretly taken of children — ages 7, 9, 11, and 14 — as they used a plane's bathroom. The pictures were from January to August 2023, authorities said.
They also found 50 photos of an unaccompanied 9-year-old girl taken aboard a flight that included shots of her sitting alone and close-ups of her face while she slept stored in a data cloud Thompson controlled, prosecutors said.
Police have spoken with all of the victim's families.
Officers also found several AI-generated images of child pornography stored in the cloud.
Thompson faces potentially decades in prison if convicted.
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