TSA screeners are doing their holiday shopping in your luggage.
Port Authority cops on Tuesday busted a crooked 32-year-old TSA screener for stealing iPads and laptops from checked baggage at JFK Airport as part of a sting into the increasing problem of sticky-fingered screeners.
Screener Sean J. Henry of Brooklyn was arrested leaving the airport Tuesday with two Port Authority GPS-equipped “bait iPads,” a 17-inch MacBook Pro, and possibly another laptop in his bag; a stolen Apple laptop was also found in his home, according to a law enforcement source.
Henry was charged with larceny, possession of stolen property, and official misconduct. He is awaiting arraignment in Queens Supreme Court.
Whatever the outcome of his court case, Henry will not be returning to work at JFK any time soon. “The individual in question is currently on indefefinite suspension without pay and is being processed for termination,” said a TSA official.
The PAPD sting had been put in place to address “an on-going theft problem of passengers’ valuables handled by TSA at the airport,” according to a law enforcement source familiar with the case.
The bust is the latest blow to the beleaguered agency. Earlier this year, there were as many as 40 TSA screeners dismissed from Newark Airport for failing to properly conduct their screening duties, and in some cases, sleeping on the job.
The sting comes after New York Sen. Chuck Shumer called on the agency to conduct stings and to subject screeners to the same searches as passenger when they leave work to make sure they aren’t looting luggage.
“These are exactly the type of stings that should be done nationwide, and at random. Clearly there is a small minority of agents that are prone to fleece travelers, and this is precisely the type of check that will deter would be thieves, or catch them,” said Sen. Schumer, when informed of the sting.
According to Shumer’s office, 381 TSA agents were terminated for theft from May 2003 to December 2011, and FAA figures show the agency received reports of missing items from 206 people last year.
Instances of theft by TSA personnel are becoming “a major problem” nationally and more serious than current statistics indicate, a law enforcement official said.
“This recurring problem we have with dishonest TSA personnel is not only a local problem, but a national problem,” the official added.
Such crimes raised the spectre of terrorism, as well, the source noted: “If unscrupulous TSA personnel are taking out items from airline passengers’ bags, what are they capable of putting in?”
A TSA official said that the agency continually evaluates its employees.
“Like the PAPD, TSA is conducting integrity testing at JFK as well at other airports around the country. TSA is committed to a proactive testing regimen to hold our employees accountable to the public and ensure they are conducting themselves with professionalism and integrity.”
The official added that TSA had heard that two other airport employees – neither of whom worked for the TSA – were also arrested Tuesday as part of the PAPD sting, but law enforcement officials could not immediately confirm that.
pmessing@nypost.com