Airline Employee Jailed for Stealing Aircraft Parts

Office of Inspector General

Title:	Airline Employee Jailed for Stealing Aircraft Parts
Date:	June 20, 2002
Type:	Investigation
Summary:	Alvin Randolph, an American Eagle airline employee at the Port Columbus (OH) International Airport was sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge in Columbus to spend 7 months in jail and pay $36,392 in restitution for violating the Suspected Unapproved Parts law and Federal firearms charges. He was arrested by special agents of OIG and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after selling numerous stolen aircraft parts to an undercover agent in exchange for cash and machine guns. Randolph had claimed to an undercover agent that he could obtain a variety of stolen aircraft parts along with documents falsely certifying the parts met the highest quality standards. False statements regarding the origin of aircraft parts are a longstanding problem in the aviation industry and a significant threat to aviation safety. One of the items sold was a cockpit/cargo key stolen by Randolph, which would open cockpits of American Airlines aircraft.