Fullerton Cop Arrested for Stealing iPad at TSA Checkpoint

[Bob Hubbard]

report confirms that an off-duty Fullerton police officer was arrested for stealing an Apple iPad at a Miami International Airport TSA checkpoint last month. According to court documents, FPD Officer Kelly Mejia was caught on surveillance video taking an $800 iPad from another passenger just after it had passed through the x-ray machine in the presence of TSA security agents.

http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2011/fullerton-cop-arrested-for-stealing-ipad-at-tsa-checkpoint/

Report makes an interesting point:

how many pending criminal cases in Fullerton will be called into question if this officer loses her credibility in court?

How credible is a cop arrested for theft? Not very in my view.

Digging into this, I find very little.
http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Kelly_Mejia_4615928/
Arrest report from last year. Doesn't line up with the one in the 1st link.

Nothing on any news site I could see though.

 

[MJS]

Gee, nice to see that the TSA jackasses that were standing around, tried to stop the cop from stealing. *rolls eyes*

 

[Archangel M]

She was caught and arrested, hopefully she will be fired. What else would you like to discuss?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Couple things come to mind.

1- My guess is she wasn't in uniform so the TSA screeners wouldn't have known she was a cop. The point there is 'stuff goes through screening, and wrong person is allowed to take it. Screening needs to be improved to ensure peoples property is secure during the process'.

2- Considering she was caught very shortly afterwards, response time seems good.

3- How much jeopardy does the arrest of a LEO put the cases said dishonest cop had worked on?


I'm just looking for topic fodder right now.

 

[Archangel M]

Yes.

Yes.

Any case she may be involved in that would require testimony is shot. She would likely never be able to testify in court again. She should be fired.

 

[jks9199]

Couple things come to mind.

1- My guess is she wasn't in uniform so the TSA screeners wouldn't have known she was a cop. The point there is 'stuff goes through screening, and wrong person is allowed to take it. Screening needs to be improved to ensure peoples property is secure during the process'.

2- Considering she was caught very shortly afterwards, response time seems good.

3- How much jeopardy does the arrest of a LEO put the cases said dishonest cop had worked on?


I'm just looking for topic fodder right now.

1. Absolutely agree. The current process is really a joke, and they have no way to control what goes on with the stuff. You walk up, put your stuff on a bin that may or may not pass through the scanner around the same time you do, and claim it afterwards. Not hard to grab someone else's stuff by innocent mistake, or deliberate intent.

2. Yeah. Better would have been a method to prevent the opportunity in the first place.

3. Anything that relied on her testimony is pretty much shot. Defense counsel will simply ask "Is it true that you were arrested for stealing..." and be done. If there is independent evidence or other testimony, she might overcome any proplems there.

 

[Carol]

She's 25 years old, makes $86,000 per year, and tried to steal an iPad???

 

[sgtmac_46]

All cases requiring her testimony are no defunct.

 

[oftheherd1]

Even cases not requiring her testimony may be in question. There is always the possibility of a bad cop. The only good thing is she has been caught. Granted her prior arrests will now be in question. But no future arrests will be, since there won't be any.