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A former flight attendant for American Airlines, Estes Carter Thompson III, has been sentenced to 18 and a half years in prison. Thompson was found guilty of secretly filming underage girls in aircraft lavatories over a nine-month period. His arrest followed the discovery of a hidden phone by a 14-year-old girl on a flight from Charlotte to Boston.
Thompson admitted to his actions and pleaded guilty earlier this year. He was charged with attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse material. At his sentencing hearing, he expressed remorse for his actions, describing them as "selfish, perverse, and wrong."
The incident began when the young girl found an iPhone taped under the toilet seat lid in the first-class lavatory after being directed there by Thompson. Prosecutors alleged that he recorded multiple girls using similar setups during flights. They also discovered that Thompson had collected AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
