Southwest Employee Reportedly Kept Stealing Guns From Passenger’s Bags

Southwest Employee Reportedly Kept Stealing Guns From Passenger's Bags

(USNewsMag.com) – When people travel by air, they know there’s a possibility someone could steal from their suitcases. Bags come with locks for that very reason. That’s exactly what happened to some of the passengers traveling on Southwest Airlines.

On Tuesday, November 30, the Department of Justice announced the sentencing of a former Southwest employee who pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing or receiving one or more firearms that were stolen. Mark Hunter was accused of going through luggage and stealing weapons. The charges came after a passenger, who went through St. Louis Lambert Airport, reported his gun was stolen out of his luggage.

The Manchester Police Department launched an investigation following the report. Eventually, the ATF and Homeland Security got involved when detectives identified seven reported stolen guns on Southwest flights out of that airport between March 28 and August 22, 2020. After reviewing schedules, they zeroed in on Hunter, who had been working during the reported thefts. He admitted to the thefts of five firearms from checked luggage bags while he was a baggage handler.

Judge Stephen R. Clark sentenced Hunter to six months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

Do you think his sentence was long enough?

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