No Criminal Charges in TSA/DIA Groping
DENVER (CBS4) - The Denver District Attorney's Office said Monday there will be no criminal charges against two fired Transportation Security Administration employees at Denver International Airport after one of the federal workers confessed to a groping conspiracy.
"We have declined to file any criminal charges in connection with the investigation," said Lynn Kimbrough, Communications Director for the Denver District Attorney's Office. "Basically we were either unable to corroborate the victim's claims with any additional facts or evidence, or prove specific incidents could have been committed by the one identified suspect due to the dates of his employment."
CBS4 broke the story in April that two TSA screeners at DIA -- Ty Spicha, 27, and Yasmeen Shafi, 22 -- were both fired earlier this year after Shafi admitted the two were manipulating screening systems at DIA so that Spicha could fondle male passengers who he found "attractive."
Shafi admitted taking part in the plot approximately 10 times so that Spicha could conduct genital pat-downs on desirable male passengers. Neither Shafi or Spicha has responded to numerous interview requests from CBS4.
Shafi told an investigator that when Spicha spotted an attractive male passenger and gave her a signal, she would intentionally input erroneous information into the security screening system triggering an alarm so that Spicha could conduct a physical, hands-on pat-down on male travelers.
The Denver district attorney originally declined to file any charges in April. However after CBS4 revealed what had been happening at DIA, Denver prosecutors said they were taking a renewed look at the incidents to see if any criminal charges might apply.
"Media coverage of that prompted a series of new reports by alleged victims and those were then investigated," said Kimbrough. "Most of those were declined because the reporting victim was not able to identify the suspect. Others were declined because the incident either occurred after the alleged suspect was fired or occurred outside the statute of limitations."
TSA administrators called the screeners actions "egregious and intolerable."
CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass has been with the station more than 30 years uncovering waste, fraud and corruption. Follow him on Twitter @Briancbs4.
