By news observer
An airport contractor was arrested at Raleigh-Durham International Airport this morning after officers said he illegally used his security badge to help a Delta Air Lines passenger bypass security screening.
“A friend of his was traveling out, and he offered to take [her] onto the concourse, bypassing security,” said Mindy Hamlin, RDU spokeswoman.
“When they stepped onto the concourse, a TSA [Transportation Security Administration] officer saw them immediately and notified an RDU law enforcement officer. And they were arrested and cited.”
RDU Airport police charged Jonathan Carl Gregg, 37, of Garner with disorderly conduct. The passenger, Amy Farrar Farmer, 31, of Apex was charged with second-degree trespassing. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Farmer had been waiting in the security line at Terminal 2 to catch a 6 a.m. Delta flight connecting to New Orleans. Hamlin and Jonathan Allen, a spokesman for the TSA, said Gregg escorted her onto the passenger concourse by using his badge to open a door into a secure area where the public is not allowed to enter.
Farmer was screened after officers arrested her.
“The passenger was taken to the checkpoint, [she was] screened and [she was] negative,” Allen said. “So [she was] found to have nothing on [her] that contained any type of threat.”
The two were not detained. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified but had not made any decision about federal changes late today, Hamlin said.
Gregg was employed by Servicetec International, an airport subcontractor, to help operate and maintain the flight information video displays and other technology in Terminal 2. He was stripped of his security badge “and escorted off the property” and will not be allowed to return to work at RDU, she said.
“There was no ill intention here,” Hamlin said. “It was just a bad choice, choosing not to follow the process, and that’s very serious.”
The incident was not regarded as a security threat, and other travelers were not affected, Hamlin said. Farmer caught a later flight.
Farmer had been waiting in the security line at Terminal 2 to catch a 6 a.m. Delta flight connecting to New Orleans. Hamlin and Jonathan Allen, a spokesman for the TSA, said Gregg escorted her onto the passenger concourse by using his badge to open a door into a secure area where the public is not allowed to enter.
Farmer was screened after officers arrested her.
“The passenger was taken to the checkpoint, [she was] screened and [she was] negative,” Allen said. “So [she was] found to have nothing on [her] that contained any type of threat.”
The two were not detained. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified but had not made any decision about federal changes late today, Hamlin said.
Gregg was employed by Servicetec International, an airport subcontractor, to help operate and maintain the flight information video displays and other technology in Terminal 2. He was stripped of his security badge “and escorted off the property” and will not be allowed to return to work at RDU, she said.
“There was no ill intention here,” Hamlin said. “It was just a bad choice, choosing not to follow the process, and that’s very serious.”
The incident was not regarded as a security threat, and other travelers were not affected, Hamlin said. Farmer caught a later flight.
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