Charlotte flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, will spend 18.5 years in federal prison after he admitted to secretly filming underage girls inside airplane bathrooms with a hidden cellphone. He will also spend five years on supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
On September 2, 2023, during a flight from Charlotte to Boston, a 14-year-old girl made a chilling discovery—an iPhone taped beneath the toilet seat lid, covered with a fake “seat broken” sticker.
Over nine months, Thompson filmed five underage girls—ages 7, 9, 11, and 14—while they used the lavatory. Authorities also discovered over 50 images of a 9-year-old flying alone and hundreds of AI-generated child p*********y images stored in his iCloud account.
Judge Comes Down Hard
The Charlotte flight attendant sentenced in Boston on July 23, 2025, by U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, faced harsh words from the bench. Judge Kobick called his actions “appalling” and said he “stole the innocence” of his victims.
Thompson, who pleaded guilty in March 2024 to attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child p*********y, will serve his time at FMC Butner in North Carolina. In court, he admitted his behavior was “selfish, perverse and wrong.”
Victims and Airline Fallout
The families of Thompson’s victims say they are living with trauma, fear, and mistrust. They’ve since filed lawsuits against American Airlines, accusing the airline of negligence for failing to immediately confiscate Thompson’s phone and allowing him time to delete evidence.
American Airlines released a statement confirming Thompson was removed from duty immediately and that they’ve been fully cooperative with federal investigators.
