Southwest Airlines Employee Sentenced 6 Months For Stealing Guns From Bags
ST. LOUIS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A former Southwest Airlines employee is being sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to possessing stolen guns.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that Mark Hunter of St. Louis admitted to the thefts while working as a baggage employee for the Dallas based airline.
After a passenger traveling through the St. Louis airport reported a pistol being stolen from his luggage, federal agents compared the dates of other gun thefts from bags and Southwest's scheduling records.
Prosecutors say agents focused on Hunter who admitted to stealing five guns during 2020.
According to a release from teh Department of Justice, Hunter was sentenced to six months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Hunter previously pleaded guilty for knowingly possessing or receiving one or more firearms that he knew to be stolen.
The case was investigated by the Manchester Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Transportation Security Administration.