A Team 4 investigation has uncovered a rash of claims by hundreds of air travelers in Pittsburgh about stolen and damaged property.

Many of them accuse federal Transportation Security Administration employees of stealing items out of their checked and carry-on bags at Pittsburgh International Airport.

The following investigative report by Team 4's Jim Parsons first aired May 25, 2005, on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

---

More than 400 travelers at Pittsburgh International have filed those theft claims. They're among more than 36,000 passengers nationally. The TSA has reimbursed passengers in about half of those cases.

Video

Watch Parsons' Report

The TSA says none of its screeners in Pittsburgh has been terminated for theft. But as Team 4 discovered, when the TSA gets a theft complaint, the federal agency does not pass that information on to the police.

Theft at airports has always been a risk for air travelers. There's nothing new about that. What is new is this: Security screeners who go through passengers' belongings are now federal employees. Nationally, more than 60 of them have been terminated for theft, including one man at JFK Airport in New York, caught pocketing a gold bracelet.

Viola Walden, airport theft victim: "When I go to the airport, that's who I put my trust in to keep me safe and everyone else safe. I expect them to act accordingly. That didn't happen, so I feel that I can't trust TSA agents any more."

Last August, Walden traveled from Pittsburgh to West Palm Beach, Fla. Her trip was ruined from the start, right as she handed over a red carry-on bag for inspection by TSA agents.

Walden: "He put the wallet back in and he came out with this, which is the jewelry case i had my jewelry in."

Walden says that when she arrived at her gate, she checked the jewelry box and discovered that her sapphire and pearl ring was missing.

Walden: "I wanted to give that ring to one of my children. Now, I'm not going to be able to do that."

When she reported the incident to the TSA, a representative told her to fill out a claim form. She did, but she says she hasn't heard back from the TSA since. It has been eight months.

Team 4 has uncovered hundreds of complaints by local travelers that their property disappeared after their bags were checked. Why do local police say this is the first they've heard of it?

Parsons: "How many times has the TSA come to the county police and said, 'We have a passenger who has filled out a claim form, and they're claiming that TSA screened their bags and somebody stole something out of their bags. We'd like you to look into it.' How many times has that happened?"

Inspector David Walsh, Allegheny County Police: "Never."

That's because it's a TSA policy not to tell police about complaints of criminal theft, so no one investigates complaints of theft by the TSA except the TSA.

Ann Davis, TSA spokeswoman: "We generally recommend that the passenger notify the police agency at that particular airport, and then we will refer them to our Web site, where they can download a claim form."

Parsons: "Does TSA share its claim forms with local police?"

Davis: "I don't believe so. No."

That means Allegheny County police were never notified of a claim by a passenger last November that a digital camera was stolen by a TSA employee during the security screening procedure at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Nor did police get to investigate a claim that someone stole two iPods from a bag.

"It is very likely that somebody saw the baggage unlocked, perhaps after seing it on X-ray monitor, and decide to steal the iPods," the passenger wrote on a claim form.

Other claim forms allege theft of "a college basketball ring with Elite 8 symbol"; a pair of "square silver-plated cufflinks"; "an 18-karat gold ring with three diamonds"; and a new golf rain jacket valued at $160.

"The only time the theft could have occurred was when the bags were not in my possession, during the baggage security screening conducted by TSA," a passenger writes on a claim form.

Davis: "You must not equate a claim with theft. Just because a claim was submitted to TSA does not mean an act of theft occurred that was the responsibility of TSA."

Parsons: "But it doesn't mean it didn't occur either."

Davis: "We're happy to investigate any and all claims, and we will investigate any and all allegations of theft."

Parsons: "But where's the police investigation on that?"

Davis: "We ask the passenger to also report that theft, especially if it occurs within the terminal or at the checkpoint. The passenger needs to report that theft."

Walden says the TSA agent she complained to about her missing ring did not advise her to go to the county police.

Walden: "That never happened to me. They never told that to me."

Liz Conforti has a similar story about the time last year that some cash and several blouses were taken from her 83-year old mother's luggage. The TSA sent her mother a check to compensate her for the missing items.

Conforti: "She told me she got something in the mail from them. That made her feel better. But it's still like, well, carry everything from now on, Mom. You're not going to check anything."

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Mount Lebanon: "I think we should have a better system of notifying the county police."

Murphy's district includes Pittsburgh International Airport.

Murphy: "Certainly, for them to be aware that there is some theft taking place -- these are felony thefts in many cases -- I think the police ought to know what's going on so they can follow up."

The police agree.

Walsh: "The quicker we know about it, the quicker we are to respond, the more you likely you are to get back your property."

Walsh says he has asked the TSA about sharing those theft claim forms with police. He hasn't received an answer yet.

A recent report by the TSA's inspector general was critical of the agency for not having enough surveillance cameras in place to watch screeners as they go through bags. That report also noted that TSA employees get no formal ethics training. The TSA says it is addressing those concerns raised in the report.