(HorizonPost.com) – Before boarding a plane, passengers have to check their bags, and they assume their luggage will travel with them, all possessions intact and present. Unfortunately, a former Southwest Airlines baggage handler had different ideas. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Missouri, Mark Hunter stole guns from passengers’ luggage at St. Louis Lambert International Airport while performing his job with the airline. On November 30, he pleaded guilty to the federal charges against him, and the court sentenced him to six months in federal prison. He’s also facing three years of supervised release for possessing the stolen guns.
A former employee of Southwest Airlines who admitted stealing five pistols from passengers' luggage at St. Louis Lambert International Airport was sentenced Tuesday to six months in federal prison, prosecutors said.https://t.co/tteSxhV1L2
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) November 30, 2021
When the passengers reported their weapons missing, police investigated and found the former employee’s schedule coincided with the corresponding flights. The DOJ confirmed, “Hunter was working and had access to” the bags in question. Federal employees interrogated the suspect, and he confessed to stealing five firearms.
Since the ex-baggage handler obtained the guns at the airport, events following the thefts could have resulted in a mass tragedy for all present during that time. Luckily, the police recovered the weapons without incident. With that in mind, is the punishment enough to deter further incidents, or should the US hand down harsher sentences to those who steal guns?
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