TSA calls Newark screener a one-person crime wave

As a screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, Pythias Brown was supposed to keep deadly objects off airplanes. But for the past year, authorities allege, Brown has been swiping electronic equipment from luggage of the passengers he was supposed to protect.

A laptop here, a cell phone there. Within months, he had snatched more than 100 items, authorities say.

But this summer, Brown got too ambitious for his own good, allegedly stealing a $47,900 camera from an HBO crew and a camcorder from a CNN employee, authorities said.

Brown attracted the attention of one of his victims -- and eventu ally investigators -- when he tried to sell the equipment on eBay, the online auction site, authorities said.

Federal investigators charged the 48-year-old Maplewood resident this week with theft and he is scheduled to appear in federal court in Newark today. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny Kramer said.

Officials at the Transportation Security Administration, which employs the airport screeners, said Brown has been placed on administrative leave and, based on their own findings, will soon be fired. Brown has worked as a screener at Newark Liberty since 2002.

"The TSA takes these matters of theft and any wrongdoing very seriously, and takes a hard line against those offenders," spokeswoman Lara Uselding said.

When investigators raided Brown's home last week, they seized a trove of contraband, according to an affidavit signed by Thomas Adams, an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Se curity's Office of Inspector General and the lead investigator on the case.

Among the items seized were 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell phones, 17 sets of electronic games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS devices, 11 MP3 players, eight camera lenses, six video cameras and two DVD players, the affidavit said.

According to the affidavit, Brown confessed that he began stealing two to three items per week from the airport beginning in September 2007. He told authorities he put most of the stolen items up for sale on eBay, it said.

One of the items was a Sony camcorder that was swiped from the bag of a CNN employee who was a passenger on a flight from Newark to Houston in July 2008, authorities said....