Small Airport, Big Discovery
News & Happenings
March 10, 2008
TSOs Michael Ragland (left) and Michael
Poe inspect a bag.
While working the checkpoint at Yeager Airport, Charleston, W. Va., Transportation Security Officers Michael Ragland and Michael Poe recently discovered a loaded, .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol in a passenger's carry-on bag. The passenger claimed that only oxygen tank parts were in her bag.
But after Ragland, a newly hired security officer, detected a "suspicious, large, metal mass" on the X-ray screen, he called Poe to perform a bag search. Inside, they found the loaded gun.
The passenger was taken into custody by Yeager Airport police and was questioned by the FBI. She was released and allowed to board a later flight.
Federal Security Officer Mike Cleveland said, "It is clear evidence that the training newly-hired TSO Poe received through the on-the-job process played a key role in the handling of the situation."
