Former TSA Agent Who Tricked A Woman Into Baring Her Breasts During Airport Screening Gets Jail

A former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent who tricked a woman into showing him her breasts while going through security at Los Angeles International Airport has been sentenced to 60 days in prison.

Johnathon Lomeli, 23, pleaded no contest to a felony charge of false imprisonment related to the June 10, 2019 incident, according to California's Attorney General's Office. Besides being required to attend 52 classes addressing sexual compulsion and two-year probation, he will also be banned from working as a security guard, said a report by The Hill.

"We all have the right to be treated with dignity and respect in all places. And no one is entitled to use a position of power to violate those rights. Why can't some men absorb that simple truth? This is 2021, not 1921. Today, Johnathon Lomeli learned this the hard way," Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a release.

The incident took place when Lomeli used fraud or receipt to falsely imprison the woman. He told her that he needed to check inside her bra to ensure that she was not hiding anything. He then asked her to hold out the waistband of her pants, so he could look inside.

After that, Lomeli asked the woman to go to a room with him for more screening. But once they were alone in an elevator, Lomeli told the woman that they could do the screening right there.

In her complaint, the woman said Lomeli had instructed her to lift her shirt and to "show me your full breasts." He also requested to have another look down her pants. He complimented her breasts before allowing her to leave.

The TSA initially brought the case to the FBI and Lomeli was let go from his job at the airport months before his arrest. According to the FBI, the complaint involved "improperly screening at least one woman in a private area of the airport."

Last year, a woman sued the federal government, claiming that she had been sexually assaulted during security screening at a North Carolina airport. The lawsuit alleged civil battery by the United States and unreasonable search by a TSA officer.