3 Hawaiian Airlines employees arrested for theft
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Hawaiian Airlines security investigators alerted police to the suspected thefts of guns from the checked luggage of law enforcement officers in August.
Three Hawaiian Airlines baggage handlers are being investigated for theft after guns were reported stolen from the checked luggage of law enforcement officers.
Maui police and federal agents arrested the airline employees Thursday. A 28-year old Wailuku man and a 52-year old Kihei man are suspected of first-degree theft, while a 29-year-old Wailuku man is accused of third-degree theft in connection with a separate investigation.
Hawaiian Airlines security investigators had alerted police to the suspected thefts in August.
Authorities say a Hawaii deputy sheriff’s firearm was stolen from his suitcase while he traveled from Los Angeles to Hilo in June. A month later, a weapon was removed from the bags of a California officer, who was traveling from Kahului to San Jose.
The airline employees are on leave without pay.
41 responses to “3 Hawaiian Airlines employees arrested for theft”
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Sounds like some job openings……..or will the Union close ranks?
Sad to say the Union will take the low ground, spin it as failure of the gun owners to properly secure their suitcase, never filed a lost item claim. Say the union member “Found” the gun lying around, took it home for safe keeping.
Yes. This is what unions do, protect the losers, never take the high ground.
Federal requirements were met, that is why feds are involved. No wiggle room on this one. Feds would have cited Hawaiian if weapons were not properly secured… Civil aviation penalty on carrier by FAA and TSA.
Per HA’s firearm policy, you’ll need to declare to a Hawaiian Airlines airport customer service agent that your baggage contains firearms. At that time, the agent will inspect your firearms to see if they comply with our conditions of acceptance. You will then be asked to fill out a form stating that the firearms are not loaded. I take it the law enforcement agents notified HA and/or the TSA immediately about the missing weapons given that they were supposedly declared and checked-in and labeled properly by the agents. Should have been quick and easy to find the handlers.
Bingo.
Hawaii’s elected Democrats must be outraged. Shame on the baggage handlers for not being the good sheeple Democrat politicians want you to be because you should all know by now that only politicians, law enforcement, terrorists and violent criminals are the only classes of people allowed to conceal-carry guns in this state :-/
Nope, as a Democrat I’m not outraged but am disappointed that fellow community members would do this. Oh I get it now, you just wanted to make a political statement.
Put these perps away. Stealing from us passengers is not acceptable. Guns on top of that. Leave without pay? Hope HA don’t plan on keeping them. Fire them.
Union will recommend the employees be promoted and given a bonus payment for “Finding the missing firearms lying around.” Blame the gun owners for failing to properly secure them in their luggage.
Sadly, you might be 100% correct given they are union. The perps can declare that they are klopemaniacs and they are seeking therapy so the Union will hire a counselor to help them deal with klopemania! haaaaa
Per HA’s firearm policy, the law enforcement agents needed to declare to a Hawaiian Airlines airport customer service agent that their baggage contained firearms. At that time, the agent should have inspected their firearms to see if they comply with HA’s conditions of acceptance. I take it the law enforcement agents notified HA and/or the TSA immediately about the missing weapons given that they were supposedly declared and checked-in and labeled properly by the agents. Should have been quick and easy to find the handlers.
No Hawaiian agent actually will lay hands on the weapons.
You sign the “unloaded” declaration, it goes into the case. Case gets locked(Long guns, in a rifle case).
Law enforcement agents that fly can probably just put them in their luggage. Not sure if John Q. Public can just throw a gun into a suitcase, even if it is declared.
I know it needs to be locked.. So these guys were cutting locks or using a master TSA key.
They will be fired. Hawaiian has two very good retired Federal Agents working for them. They were hired to house clean. This is just the beginning.
Kinda idiotic to mention this when it’s supposed to be under cover work!!!
not undercover work. It involves reviewing airline on baggage handling, work schedules, all internal airline operational mechanisms. Law enforce-local not familiar with and would take longer. Also requires moving and auditing Private, personal information which HA has access but cops would need warrant or subpoena, which would take longer.
Fired or not, they’re going to prison.
and to be stealing from law enforcement? HA must not have a smarts test when they hire.
Are these three the only ones? With stories of missing items from friends on other flights to different HAL destinations, there’s more than these three.
The airlines charge baggage fees to have your items stolen
Hey guys….. some kalbi with your deep kim chee? really stupid move huh?
No kidding. Steady job, flight benefits, what do they do – rip off law enforcement officers. Lolo buggahs for sure.
I believe these thefts go deeper than people realize. Why pay baggage fees if your personal items comes up missing after arrival?
agree..tip of the iceberg
The airlines does not care about you missing items, all they care about is the big bucks they are making.
Bet these baggage handlers also help smuggle drugs back and forth between Hawaii, the mainland and Asia for a cut.
Yup….just the beginning. Hawaiian just hired two retired Federal Agents, both are experts in smuggling, one drugs, the other people. Worked with both in my police career, joint operations.
They were also IA inspectors for their agencies…. so they also went after dirty federal cops as well.
Theft from Maui HA baggage handlers have been going on for years. The trend goes back over 30 years for me. I don’t complain because it’s small, inexpensive stuff that’s missing and it’s not worth the effort. It’s super annoying and disheartening knowing these guys go through my stuff.
You and me both. My items has always been the same category of items. That’s what makes it a theft when only the same type is taken. Whenever we booked, month long trips to Spain, 5 times, we always pack small items like SWiss pockets knife and other small incidentals commonly used at home to make your stay normal.. After the second incident of Swiss pocket knives missing, stopped packing that brand of knife. Nothing missing after that! Funny? You bet!
What else has been reported stolen?
Where’s Dunkerly lately? The Honolulu hangers still aren’t finished, theft in Maui, no expansion while all the other airlines are grabbing Hawaii routes. The pilots are close to walking off the job because they are getting paid two thirds what everyone else makes. Get back to work Dunkerly, things are unraveling.
Donkey is counting his stash
This must be going on for years….I always fly hawaiian and couple of years ago my 6 brand new shirts i bought as gifts to give friends were stuffed in the outside zippered pockets of my luggage. Upon arrival at HNL the zipper was left open and all shirts gone. This was unreported ….I suppose the perps got away….
Hawaiian Employees have been going thru bags for years. TSA needs to record what they remove from your bags when inspecting so we know what Hawaiian Airlines employees stole from our bags. I guess the employees see how much the company and the CEO makes that they want some of the action. How about the employees who have been stealing for years and have not gotten caught? Luggage is not the only area employees have been stealing from. There needs to be an audit and total inspection of the whole company.
If charged, SA should publish the names. Maui is a small community.
(Thanks for being an informed voice here.)
If charged then they should be in custody pending their arraignment……not released pending investigation…..
I love Hawaiian Airlines. Friendly, helpful people that treat locals with respect. Their baggage handlers I have always considered corrupt. When I was younger, the guy up the street was a Hawaiian Airlines baggage handler. He ALWAYS went through people’s luggage looking for weed! You could always get weed cheap from this guy because he ripped it off from the luggage. He would say “they won’t report it because they would also be put in jail.” He said they “all” do it.
Federal Authorities should also investigate this. These alleged thieves if convicted should go to Federal prison.
Online research indicates that in Hawaii “Theft in the first or second degree is a felony. Theft in the first degree means theft above $20,000 or of a firearm or explosive”. The prosecution of the offenders is likely out of the airline’s hands at this point (since it was a customer was who was the victim, not the airline). The airline will deal with the aspect of the employees’ jobs, the courts will deal with the thefts.
Great, look forward to even higher interisland airfares to subsidize the fines and lawsuits that will occur with this.
They even steal pocket knives. This past summer I had my Spyderco Military knife missing from my checked baggage. I don’t expect it to be returned but I did report it and hope these thieves will eventually get caught. It just isn’t worth it. I would value having the flight benefits vs. petty theft. Oh, except stealing firearms…that’s a whole different ball game.