- An ex-TSA agent was convicted of charges that he forced a woman to expose her breasts to him at LAX.
- Johnathon Lomeli told the woman traveling in June 2019 he had to look in her bra and down her pants.
- He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and was barred from serving as a security officer in the future.
A former Transportation Security Administration agent who convinced a female traveler to show him her breasts at the Los Angeles International Airport has been convicted of false imprisonment, the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced.
In June 2019, Johnathon Lomeli was arrested and accused of carrying out the scheme outside the primary security screening area at LAX, according to a statement from the office.
"We all have the right to be treated with dignity and respect in all places. And no one is entitled to use a position of power to violate those rights," Becerra said in a written statement. "Why can't some men absorb that simple truth? This is 2021, not 1921. Today, Johnathon Lomeli learned this the hard way."
Lomeli told the woman he had to look inside her bra to make sure she wasn't hiding anything, and to pull her waist band away from her body so he could check inside her pants as well, NBC News reported.
Lomeli told the woman he could conduct the screening in a private room, but when they got on an elevator together he told her he could perform the check there, according to the station. He ordered her to lift her top and then looked down her pants.
NBC reported Lomeli then told the woman she was free to go and that she had "nice breasts."
He has been sentenced to 60 days in county jail and 52 classes to address sexual compulsion. He will also complete two years of felony probation, according to the AG's office.
Lomeli can also never serve as a security officer again.
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