TSA Agent Charged With Molesting Young Woman at NYC Airport
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A former federal transportation security agent remained held on $3,000 bail Saturday after being charged with luring a 21-year-old Korean exchange student going to school in Utah into a bathroom at a New York City airport and molesting her.

Maxie Oquendo, 40, was arrested Thursday on unlawful imprisonment, official misconduct and sexual abuse charges, two days after authorities say the Transportation Security Administration agent confronted the woman after she stepped off a flight from Salt Lake City Tuesday, telling her a "secondary security screening" was necessary.

The TSA said it has fired Oquendo.

Oquendo's lawyer did not comment Saturday. At his initial court appearance in state court in Queens on Friday, attorney Seymour James said his client was a loving father of two daughters who has never before been accused of wrongdoing.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a release that the student had left the area of the airport where passengers require screening when he told her: "Hey ma'am, I need to scan your body and your luggage."

Prosecutors said he motioned for her to follow him to a bathroom when the victim told him: "You can't scan me but you can have a woman scan me because I am a girl."

Prosecutors said Oquendo then told her to face the mirror and raise her arms, prompting the student to ask if he checked all passengers. They said he responded yes.

According to the charges, Oquendo then had her lift her shirt and unzip her pants before he touched her over and under her clothing.

Prosecutors said he then told her he was going to check her luggage and then spoke into his cellphone, saying: "She's clear. She doesn't have any weapons or knives."

The TSA does not allow officers to conduct a secondary pat-down outside of a checkpoint area and only permits opposite-gender pat downs if there are no female officers present and a witness is there during a pat down, according to the prosecutor's release.

"The defendant is accused of an egregious abuse of his position as a government screener at LaGuardia Airport to sexually victimize a young woman. Such alleged conduct cannot, under any circumstances, go unpunished," Brown said in the release.

The New York Daily News reported Saturday that the student was visiting New York City as a tourist before returning to school. The newspaper said the woman filed a complaint with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police and later identified a photograph of Oquendo.

紐約機場安檢 猥褻韓女大生

南韓一名廿一歲女大學生廿五日在美國紐約市拉瓜迪亞機場，遭聯邦運輸安全局（TSA）人員奧肯多藉搜索武器的名義騙進男廁搜身和性侵犯。四十歲的奧肯多立即被開除，廿七日遭檢方以性侵犯（sexual abuse）和騷擾等多項罪名逮捕，並立刻被開除。

這名在猶他州念書的南韓女大生搭乘西南航空航班，從猶他州首府鹽湖城飛到紐約觀光，她晚上八點左右下飛機。奧肯多在B航廈四號登機口處走向她，藉故要搜查她的身體和行李。這名女大生當時已通過安檢區域，沒理由遭人攔查，但奧肯多說服她安檢的必要性。

奧肯多揮手示意女子進入男廁，並透過對講機取得進入男廁密碼。女大生反抗道：「你不能對我搜身，你可以讓別的女性幫我搜身，因為我是女的。」奧肯多不予理會，並要女子面相鏡子舉起雙手，甚至回應女子質疑表示他「對每個乘客都這麼做」，然後掀起她的上衣、解開她的長褲拉鍊並撫摸她。奧肯多摸爽了之後，告訴女子說他不用檢查她的行李了，然後裝模作樣的透過對講機說「她是清白的，沒帶武器或刀械」。

女子察覺有異，隨即向航警報案。消息來源說，奧肯多是夜班監督，他接獲機場大廳發出的性侵犯報告後，還假裝翻查錄影帶，要揪出「歹徒」，但被害人認出奧肯多就是加害者。

此外，案發廁所附近兩名機場員工提供的外貌描述和身材魁梧的奧肯多相吻合。TSA官員說，TSA人員不得在檢查區域外搜查旅客，且搜查異性須有一名證人在場。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/08/29/us/ap-us-airport-screener-arrest.html

2015-08-31．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯陳韻涵