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Newark TSOs Help Thwart Kidnapping

News & Happenings

May 11, 2007

Cell phone with 911 on the screen

On the morning of May 10, Newark-Liberty International Airport TSO Venecia Rodriguez was providing additional screening to a 19-year-old female selectee in Terminal B when the woman whispered, "Please help me..." and lifted her sunglasses to reveal a black eye. The woman was traveling with an older man, also a selectee, who was undergoing additional screening nearby.

After coordinating with TSO Lakisah Brown, Rodriguez asked Supervisory TSO Giovanni Zambrano to contact law enforcement officers immediately. As screening of the female passenger continued, the woman quietly told Rodriguez that she had purposely placed her cell phone underneath her shirt to ensure she would alarm at the metal detector.

Rodriguez whispered discreetly, "Don't worry, I am going to help you" and continued screening the woman very slowly to give law enforcement authorities time to respond. Rodriguez then explained to the woman that she would need to resolve the alarm, which allowed the passenger to be further screened in a private screening area away from the male individual.

Rodriguez and Brown escorted the passenger to the private screening area. Once alone with the TSOs, the woman revealed that the man traveling with her was her father and that she was being kidnapped.

Upon questioning by police and TSA behavior detection officers, the woman said that her father had beaten her and was attempting to take her to India against her will. Law enforcement officers arrested the woman's father.

Thanks to the quick thinking of this passenger and swift actions of TSOs Rodriguez, Brown and the entire TSA team at Newark-Liberty, a potential abduction was thwarted.