Bob Hope Airport TSO Awareness Results in Arrest
News & Happenings
April 18, 2008
Photo of TSO Rudy Castaneda and Supervisor
Nancy Parsons
When Bob Hope Airport TSO Rudy Castaneda checked the driver's license of a male passenger while working the TDC position March 28, he knew within seconds that is was a fake, since it did not have key security features.
Though the ID and boarding pass had matching names, Castaneda alerted his Supervisor Nancy Parsons who worked with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary check on the name on the license with no significant findings.
"It seems odd that a passenger would present a false ID with an authentic boarding pass if he had nothing to hide," explained Parsons. "I was convinced something was wrong, so I pressed the police to pursue it further."
When airport police ran a subsequent check, they found the license had been issued to a white male, with brown hair, hazel eyes, and 370 pounds, clearly not matching the black male with brown hair and eyes who stood 5' 10" and presented the ID with his photo on it. BUR police arrested the passenger on a charge of possession of a counterfeit state seal.
However, it was during the booking process when the passenger's true identity became clear and the story made some sense. A criminal record check revealed the man was wanted on a federal no bail warrant by the US Marshal Service for a narcotics charge.
"One after another our document checkers are keeping criminals from boarding planes in our nation's airports," said Brian Cahill, BUR federal security director. "A catch like this in Burbank is great for LA, Chicago and Toledo and every city in between. Working together to enhance security is key to the overall success of our agency."
