Who is Estes Carter Thompson III? US flight attendant pleads guilty to filming minors in plane lavatory
ByAshima Grover
Mar 08, 2025 02:06 PM IST
Former American Airlines flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson III was arrested in 2024 and is scheduled to be sentenced in June 2025.
Estes Carter Thompson III, a former American Airlines flight attendant, pleaded guilty to two felony charges on Thursday, March 6, 2025, according to a Massachusetts District Attorney Leah Belaire Foley’s news release.
Former American Airlines flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson III pleads guilty to two counts of felony charges. (Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority / AP File)
Former American Airlines flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson III pleads guilty to two counts of felony charges. (Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority / AP File)
The 37-year-old man arrested in January 2024 made it to the US crime news section after he secretly filmed several underage girls in airplane bathrooms. A federal jury in Boston indicted him in April 2024. Hundreds of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse were also discovered on his iCloud in the following investigation round.
Videos of minors were found on ex-flight attendant's phone
Before Thompson’s appearance in court on Thursday, authorities recovered those inappropriate videos from his account. According to federal prosecutors’ statement, the perverted man secretly recorded minors aged 7, 9, 11 and 14 in the airplane lavatory from January through September 2023.
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On September 2, 2023, a 14-year-old girl found his phone recording her behind closed doors, where thought of herself alone, during a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston. Thompson allegedly convincingly advised the teen girl to use the facilities in the first-class section of the plane, escorting her there before the disgusting discovery.
How Estes Carter Thompson III recorded an alleged teen victim
The former flight attendant is believed to have entered the restroom before the girl. He told her that the toilet seat was broken, and the alleged victim also saw red stickers on the toilet seat lid’s underside, which aligned with Thompson's earlier claim. DA Foley’s news release established that his iPhone was allegedly taped and hidden under the stickers to secretly record others.
“The minor victim informed her parents of what she saw and showed them the picture upon returning to her seat. The victim’s father confronted Thompson, who then locked himself in the lavatory with his iPhone for three to five minutes prior to the flight’s descent,” says the news release. “Upon the flight’s arrival at Boston’s Logan Airport, law enforcement observed that Thompson had restored his iPhone to factory settings.”
The official release also shared, “The images included photos taken while the minor victim was seated in her seat pre-flight and close-ups of her face while sleeping.” Subsequent investigation disclosed that the aforementioned incident was the fifth of the year. Over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were also discovered on his iCloud. All the victims have since been identified and authorities have reached out to their families.
American Airlines' filing initially blamed the underage girl for being filmed
In April 2024, the family of a 9-year-old girl filed an amended civil lawsuit in Travis County, Texas, over the young one being recorded while using the bathroom during a Jan 2023 flight from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles, California. Attorneys for American Airlines responded to the filing in May of that year by blaming the alleged victim for the incident. The company’s legal team also said that Thompson, “was not acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the alleged wrongful conduct against Plaintiff.”
The girl's attorney was outraged by the take. “To blame a 9 year old for being filmed while using the airplane bathroom is both shocking and outrageous,” said Paul Llewellyn. “In my opinion this is a depraved legal strategy that sinks to a new low. American Airlines should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.”
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The girl’s mother added in a statement to PEOPLE, “Instead of taking responsibility for this awful event, American Airlines is actually blaming our daughter for being filmed. How in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion? It both shocks and angers us. American Airlines has no shame.”
American Airlines later retracted the statement, condemning the filing. Admitting to the company’s attorneys' mistake, they affirmed that the defence would be changed.
Former American Airlines flight attendant pleads guilty: Sentence scheduled
With more than a year having passed since his arrest in Lynchburg, Virginia, Estes Carter Thompson III has pleaded to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.
Thompson has remained in federal custody since his arrest. He faces up to 30 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17, 2025.
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