Spirit Airlines employee Cush Karlson Joseph Vengeto has been charged with third-degree theft after reports of personal items from passengers’ luggage were repeatedly reported to be missing.
It has been said that Vengeto stole personal items from luggage while working at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The 25-year-old Spirit Airlines employee has been charged with a third-degree felony theft of more than $750 and less than $5,000. You can find the full arrest report here.
On Tuesday, 18 January, Vengeto was arrested while on the job at 300 Terminal Drive in Fort Lauderdale. It is reported that Broward County Deputies as well as Spirit Airlines launched investigations after complaints of “thefts of personal items from the interior of luggage which belonged to customers who flew on Spirit Airlines” became more frequent.
Vengeto was released from Broward County Jail after his $1,000 bond was paid in full on Wednesday 19 January by Hailey Johnson, who according to the report also lives at the same address as Vengato.
Spirit Airlines recently told Local 10 News that another employee is also under investigation, and noted that “[b]oth employees were promptly suspended without pay. We do not tolerate this behavior, and we are performing a thorough investigation…”
Currently, there is no information about which personal items were stolen from the travelers’ luggage or if the other unnamed employee has been arrested. There is also no information on how the Broward Sheriff’s Office was able to find out about the theft in order to reprimand and launch investigations.
The news comes at a difficult time for the travel and aviation industry at large, who are doing all they can to garner trust amongst tentative fliers. This is particularly true for budget airlines like Spirit, who are feeling the combination of COVID-related cancellations and general unruly in-flight behavior disrupting their usual flying schedules.
