Fake Screener Arrested in San Francisco After Allegedly Giving Women Private Patdowns

Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport

A man who posed as a screener at a security checkpoint and reportedly lured at least two female passengers into private screening booths at San Francisco International Airport was arrested earlier this week.

The security checkpoint in San Francisco is managed by Covenant, a private security firm.  The investigation has since been taken over by the Transportation Security Administration which is responsible for all of the nation’s security checkpoints.

Eric McLean Slighton was wearing khaki pants, a blue polo shirt, and blue gloves, giving him the look of a screener at the airport, when he entered the security area. On at least two separate occasions, he took women into the private screening booths that are used to pat down selected passengers.  It is not known what happened inside the booths, however, because both women left to catch flights before police arrived.

The 53-year-old Slighton drew suspicion from screeners with Covenant, a private security firm, after directing the second woman into the private booth, because male screeners are not supposed to take female passengers into the booths without a female screener present.  The real screeners, whom Slighton was impersonating, detained him until San Francisco police arrived.

Because neither woman could be reached for questioning, Slighton was charged only with public drunkenness.  Authorities are seeking to question the female passengers involved in the incident, and Slighton could face additional charges once more details emerge.

Slighton, a dual resident of San Francisco and Hong Kong, is a successful banker

(Photo: Accura Media Group)