DA: TSA pair stole cash in checked bag

Two Transportation Security Administration officers were arrested Wednesday and charged with stealing $40,000 from a passenger's checked bag at Kennedy Airport, the Port Authority and the Queens district attorney's office said.

Officials said one of the TSA agents, Persad Coumar, 44, of Jackson Heights, spotted the cash Jan. 30 using an X-ray machine, then called the cell phone of his accomplice, Davon Webb, 30, of the Bronx, who was in an American Airlines baggage collection area.

Webb opened the bag, confirmed there was cash inside and marked it with tape, the law enforcement officials said. Coumar then swiped an identification card, entered the baggage handling area, found the bag and took some of the $170,000 he found inside, the officials said.

The men later met in a bathroom and divided the money, officials said.

The TSA asked the Port Authority police to investigate after another TSA employee reported the theft to a superior, a TSA official said.

Coumar and Webb, whose jobs are being terminated, face charges including third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. They could face up to 7 years in prison.

The TSA said in a statement: "The disgraceful actions of a few should not reflect negatively on the approximately 50,000 TSA officers across the country who work each day to keep the traveling public safe."

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