NEWARK, N.J. (WPIX)—
A former baggage screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, who ripped off more than 100 cameras, laptop computers, and other items from checked luggage was sentenced to a three-year-prison term.Pythias Brown, 47, of Maplewood pleaded guilty to criminal charges in March when he admitted to stealing two to three times a week from bags beginning in 2007. Police didn't nab him, though until the following year, after he apparently stole a camcorder belonging to a CNN employee and attempted to sell it on eBay.
The CNN employee found the stolen equipment on the online auction website and immediately alerted authorities. Agents with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General reportedly placed the winning bid on the camera. Authorities then caught Brown on surveillance tape, as he was mailing the stolen items to officials from a UPS kiosk in Newark.
As part of his punishment, U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan also ordered Brown to shell out nearly $8,000 in restitution to his victims.
"I'm ashamed of what I've done," Brown said today during his sentencing in Trenton.
