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TSA Worker Avoids Prison After Stealing Travelers' Laptops

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 37-year-old former Transportation Security Administration officer has been sentenced to three years' probation for stealing laptop computers from passengers' luggage at Philadelphia International Airport.

Federal prosecutor Arlene Fisk says defendant Troy Davis, upset about a demotion and lost pay, admitted stealing five laptops and a Sony Playstation.

Fisk says Davis actually used the surveillance equipment for his own greedy purpose.

"He put the luggage through special machines to see whether there was any explosives or anything of concern in the luggage," she told KYW Newsradio.  "When he saw that there was something of value in the luggage, he took out the computers or the games."

Judge C. Darnell Jones says he considered the defendant's military service -- the US Navy veteran served in Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, and in Somalia.  And Davis is still recovering from injuries from a near-fatal car wreck a year ago.

"Quite frankly," Judge Jones told the defendant, "that is what kept you out of jail, because I was determined to put you there. As I indicated before, if you violate this court's probation, I can assure you this will not keep you out."

Davis is married with six children.

Reported by Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio 1060.

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