LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eleven people have been charged with the
theft of passenger property at Los Angeles International Airport,
prosecutors said on Friday, including a baggage screener accused of
stealing a $100,000 watch from Paris Hilton's bag.
The suspects, who also included two U.S. Transportation Security
Administration screeners charged with taking a $7,000 watch
belonging to R&B singer Keyshia Cole, were arrested as part of
a crackdown on crime at the airport.
Prosecutors say George Penaranda, a 27-year-old TSA screener, was
spotted by a co-worker taking a Paris Hilton Limited Edition watch
from the hotel heiress's bag, slipping it into his glove and then
his pocket in May of 2006.
Penaranda replaced the watch, which was valued at $100,000, after
he realized that he had been observed, City Attorney's spokesman
Frank Mateljan said. He was charged with grand theft and faces a
maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine if he is
convicted.
Screeners Qualonda Matthews, 32, and Millicent Pounds, 49, were
charged with one count of grand theft, one count of
misappropriation of property and one count of conspiracy.
Prosecutors say that after Cole left her $7,000 watch behind at a
security checkpoint, Matthews and Pounds took it from the airport's
lost property section and ultimately sold it in Las Vegas.
The eight other people charged included five TSA screeners, two
employees of an airport subcontractor and a transient.
The crackdown is the result of a task force involving nearly a
dozen law enforcement agencies, including the city attorney's
office, Los Angeles Police Department, U.S. Department of Homeland
Security and the TSA.
