A former Transportation Security Administration agent has been sentenced to 60 days in jail over tricking a female passenger into showing her breasts during a search at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.
Johnathon Lomeli pleaded no contest Friday to a felony charge of false imprisonment and was sentenced to county jail time, two years of probation and ordered to attend 52 classes for sexual compulsion, the state's attorney general announced.
Lomeli has also been banned from working as a security guard. He had been charged in 2019 with using fraud or deceit to falsely imprison the woman.
The passenger told investigators Lomeli said he needed to look inside her bra and pants to make sure she wasn't hiding anything. He said he would escort her to a private room for further screening, she told authorities.
But as they rode an elevator together, he said he could perform the check there and instructed her to lift her shirt and then told her to pull her pants away from her waist so he could look inside, prosecutors said.
He then told her she had nice breasts and was free to go, authorities said.
Following Lomeli's arrest, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called the incident an intolerable abuse of women, according to CBS Los Angeles reported.
"Women deserve to be treated with dignity and respect everywhere," Becerra said. "There is no excuse for this kind of alleged behavior. It's not OK on the street, it's not OK in our schools, and it's certainly not welcome at the airport."
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