Travelers reassured on LAX crime

After announcing the filing of misdemeanor theft charges against 11 people, including eight security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport, officials sought to reassure travelers Friday that their luggage was safe.

Several workers who screened bags at security checkpoints in incidents dating to June 2005 were charged this week with taking watches, cameras and other valuables. Victims included hotel heiress Paris Hilton and rhythm and blues singer Keyshia Cole. The screeners have been fired.

“This represents such a minuscule number of incidents and such a small number of employees,” said Larry Fetters, security director at LAX for the federal Transportation Security Administration, which manages screeners. “During the time these investigations were conducted, over 4,000 people worked for the TSA at LAX.”

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said officials have formed a task force to prevent airport crime and speed investigations and prosecutions, specifically targeting theft by employees.

Delgadillo’s announcement -- at a news conference at the airport -- came as LAX crime has dropped to historic lows, records show.

“The good news is that crime at the airport is down,” Delgadillo said.

“The bad news is that crime has been continuing. We can ... [and] must do better.”

It appeared that there could be jurisdictional issues in at least two of the cases, which involved the theft of items worth thousands of dollars, constituting felonies. Generally, the county district attorney handles felonies and the city attorney prosecutes misdemeanors.

“We are contacting the TSA to let them know it’s our job to prosecute felonies in Los Angeles County,” D.A. spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Friday. “We don’t know if these are felony cases because they were never presented to us.”

Among those charged was former screener George Penaranda, 27, who was seen taking a $100,000 limited edition watch from Hilton’s bag in May, officials said, but reportedly returned it after another employee told a supervisor.

Two former screeners, Qualonda Matthews, 32, and Millicent Pounds, 49, allegedly fraudulently signed out from a lost property unit a $7,000 Rolex watch that singer Cole had left at a security checkpoint in July 2005. The screeners are accused of taking it to Las Vegas and selling it, according to the criminal complaint.

Former screener Monica Zuniga, 28, allegedly removed jewelry, foreign currency and cameras from bags in June 2005.

Joanna Chang, 30, a former TSA employee, allegedly stole a bag containing four cartons of duty-free cigarettes left behind by a passenger Jan. 30. Other former TSA employees charged include Brandon D. Wells, 21; Cornell Braggs, 23, who allegedly stole a digital camera from a passenger’s bag during screening; and Heather Hall, 25, who is accused of taking a watch left at a security checkpoint.

Others charged include two employees who worked for an airport contractor: Lazaro Borjas, 27, and Gabriel Becerra, 30, for allegedly stealing a digital camera from luggage while loading an aircraft in December, officials said. Gary Lee Jones entered Terminals 3 and 6 at LAX on Feb. 18, took two bags and placed them on a cart, officials said.

jennifer.oldham@latimes.com andrew.blankstein@ latimes.com