Air travel can be incredibly stressful.
It’s only gotten worse since post-9/11 and post-COVID protocols.
And you may never want to travel again after one U.S. Customs agent got busted for one infuriating crime.
CBP officer targets Americans
William Timothy was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent working at Naples Airport in Florida.
And the 43-year-old recently pleaded guilty to stealing roughly $19,000 in cash from international passengers who were arriving at the airport.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced that Timothy, who is from Ave Maria, faces a maximum penalty of up to ten years in federal prison.
The official charge in Timothy’s case is listed as one count of an officer or employee of the United States converting the property of another.
Per court documents, there are 17 cases and 18 passengers listed as complainants.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement, “According to the plea agreement, between mid-2023 and early-2024, Timothy stole approximately $18,700 in cash from airline passengers during 17 incidents of theft uncovered by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility Investigators.”
The statement added that the evidence amassed as part of the investigation “showed that Timothy was surreptitiously stealing cash from arriving international passengers during border enforcement examinations and currency verifications performed as part of his official duties as an assigned CBP Officer at Naples Airport.”
Prosecutors said that Timothy will pay “full restitution to the victims of his thefts, and he has further agreed to immediately resign from his employment with CBP” as part of the plea deal.
The next step for Timothy is the sentencing process.
The scandal of missing cash first arose when a criminal complaint was filed in January 2024 stating that Timothy conducted a “border enforcement examination and currency verification” of an “international airline passenger who traveled on a private aircraft from the Bahamas” and arrived at the Naples Airport in May 2023.
The passenger noticed that approximately $2,200 of cash handed to Timothy during the examination had gone missing.
The initial criminal complaint from January declared that “to date, Timothy has filed no report or documentation which would serve to justify any seizure of cash” from any passenger.
Caught on candid camera
Not only did passengers complain about their missing cash, but thankfully some of the thefts were caught on tape.
Regarding the passenger arriving from the Bahamas, surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed Timothy placing “three stacks of bills aside,” but “he did not return” them to the passenger.
The complaint read that after Timothy set aside “approximately 22 bills – which are all believed to be $100 bills – Timothy also appears to place Customs Declarations forms on top of the currency.”
It continued to say that Timothy’s actions were “believed to be an effort to conceal the cash he took from Passenger #1.”
The complaint concluded, “After Passenger #1 departs, Timothy can be seen retrieving the Customs Declaration forms – and the cash concealed underneath – and walking away from the camera.”
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
