| Updated: 7/03/2010 11:10 am |
Published: 7/02/2010 10:20 am |
A federal employee hired to keep you safe finds himself in trouble with the law and without his government job. Thirty-three year old Christopher Burley is accused of stealing painkillers from a passenger at Little Rock's National Airport.
It all started when a female passenger noticed missing pills from her medicine bottle. This after she followed all of the rules and regulations TSA requires when boarding an airplane. Now authorities want to know why the employee didn't follow the company's regulations.
Passengers at the airport are shocked over what police say Burley, a TSA screener did Wednesday morning. When a female passenger noticed painkillers missing from her purse after going through a security checkpoint, an investigation was prompted. Later, a TSA official found the missing pills they say Burley tried to hide.
According to employees at the airport, it was all caught on camera, too.
"They should be fired," said passenger Jon O’Leary.
"Not taking care of somebody's luggage, especially when it comes to someone's prescription medicine. It could be a life or death situation," said passenger Kasey Hill.
"A lot of these medications cost a lot of money,” added passenger Lonnie Wood.
TSA issued a statement saying it has zero tolerance for theft and after an internal investigation, company officials turned it over to police. TSA says Burley's actions do not reflect the professionalism of the company.
"I feel that as strict as they are with the way they are with their laws here, the rules, they should be screening their employees just as much," O’Leary added.
"It's sad to say that we don't live in an honest society anymore," Hill said.
"If we don't trust the security people, who do we trust?" said passenger Rebecca Humphreys.
Another TSA official found six pills in the area authorities believe Burley was concealing them. We tried to reach that female passenger who went through this ordeal, but she wasn't available.
Burley is no longer working at the airport. Police charged him with obtaining drugs by theft. He was released from jail on a $2,500 bond.
