Springs woman says TSA agent groped her vagina during pat-down

August 11th, 2011, 1:19 pm · 81 Comments · posted by Daniel Chacon

A Colorado Springs woman says an airport security agent groped her vagina last week.

Janis Heuberger filed a complaint today with the federal Transportation and Security Administration, saying she felt sexually harassed by the female agent.

Heuberger said she was traveling to Las Vegas through the Colorado Springs Airport on Friday afternoon. She recently broke her foot and was in a wheelchair, she said.

“I was given the option of a private room screening or open area screening, and I chose the second option,” she said in the complaint.

The female agent, who was in training, conducted the pat-down and started by screening her cast with a pad and then checking the wheelchair for chemicals, she said.

The agent then told Heuberger she had to undergo a full body pat-down and asked if that was OK. Heuberger told her it was.

“She explained that she would use the back of her hands to pat down around my breasts and buttocks,” she wrote.

The agent started to pat down her shoulders and arms, followed by the back to her waist and then her breasts, Heuberger said.

“She said that I would have to boost myself up in the wheelchair so that she could do my buttocks. At this time I asked if I could go walk through the screening machine since this pat down was becoming so invasive in an opened area,” she said.

The agent told Heuberger her crutches would set off the alarm and that going through the screening machine wasn’t an option. Heuberger also said she wasn’t given the option to go into a private room to complete the remainder of the pat-down.

“I told her I (would) rather stand with my crutches and did so,” she said in the complaint.

Then “she proceeded (to) pat down my legs up to my thigh area and proceeded all the way up to my vagina. To my utter surprise, her opened hand patted down my vaginal area,” Heuberger said.

“I stated out loud, ‘You just felt my vagina,’ and her trainer stated that the pat down included the entire thigh to where it met the torso.”

Heuberger said she immediately asked for a supervisor and a copy of pat down procedures for people in wheelchairs. The supervisor told Heuberger he couldn’t give her a copy of those procedures. Instead, he gave her a complaint/compliment form, she said.

In a statement, TSA spokesman Luis Casanova said the TSA’s mission is to safely, efficiently and respectfully screen nearly 2 million passengers each day at airports across the country.

“We are sensitive to the concerns of passengers who were not satisfied with their screening experience and we invite those individuals to provide feedback to TSA through a variety of channels. We work to balance those concerns with the very real threat that our adversaries will attempt to use explosives to carry out attacks on planes,” he said.

“We take the professionalism of our workforce and the integrity of our security procedures very seriously and will address any alleged issues directly with the passenger and not through the news media,” he added.

The Gazette requested the number of complaints filed against TSA agents at the Colorado Springs Airport since 2008, but Casanova did not immediately respond to the request.

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treebeardzz says:

August 14, 2011 at 12:39 am

pi$$ on them. no, REALLY, go commando-women w/dresses & men w/kilts and when they get too “familiar” pi$$ on them. unfortunately you might be shocked at how many of the pervs would enjoy it.

Big Dawg Hung Huge says:

August 14, 2011 at 7:17 am

Being a libural I am prowd of my TSA for ceeping me safe from terorists and incurage yall to penatrate all orafices of all peeps who wanna fly. You da man yo!

eatyourslop says:

August 14, 2011 at 9:30 am

In the news: White middle aged woman in a wheel chair blows up aircraft. Right! Start profiling morons!

JoeG says:

August 14, 2011 at 10:25 am

Americans of European descent have allowed their nation to be destroyed with non-white immigration.

Remember when the US was 90+ percent white, and no airport security was needed?
Or when tourists could walk through the White House and leave presents for the President at Christmas time? Now you can’t get closer than 1000 feet.
Also in the 50s, Detroit was considered the most prosperous city in the world, and a great place for white families.
Mostly white High schools did not need metal detectors, or mini police stations. There were no gangs, shootings, stabbings, teachers being raped or beat up. Some even had gun clubs.

We’ve given away our nation, and are headed for a dictatorship, the only form of government that can hold together a multi-racial, multi cultural country.

B says:

August 14, 2011 at 10:42 am

Wow, some real quality comments here.

j spike says:

August 14, 2011 at 12:53 pm

Or do like the guy did at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix He took 2 Viagra and wore sweat pants with no underware He went through the pat down and got back in line 5 more times. The screener commented he wasn’t getting paid enough for this and threatened to quit.

August 14, 2011 at 12:55 pm

If a Male Preop transexual goes through the pat down does a male do the pat down or a female ??

August 14, 2011 at 1:17 pm

do they change gloves betwween pat downs ? or are they trying to spread diseases including MERSA infections ?

Hawaii Jeff says:

August 14, 2011 at 3:36 pm

The clipped haired, butt ugly, director of Homeland Security said in her New York Times Editorial. If you opt out of the AIT (cancer causing machine) or set off the metal detector, you get the enhanced pat down! Why do they still pat you down after you opted out & you walked through the metal detector without setting it off? It is obvious that there is an agenda by the current administration!

Hoser says:

August 14, 2011 at 4:02 pm

JoeG –
It isn’t the multi-racial part that’s the problem. It’s the multi-cultural part. We should all be Americans first. Adding to the stew is what makes America great. For example, the new hindustani immigrants are exactly the people we need. Our mexican heritage is fantastic. And asians know all about competition and hopefully will help us make our schools better. Now, we need to stop illegal immigration, but not by putting up 60 foot fences or minefields and gun towers with machine guns (get the sarcasm?).

However, our immigrants need to appreciate being American. They should not recreate the problems they left behind here. But it is great to have a Little Italy, or Chinatown, or Little Dehli. I don’t want to see a Mexican flag, PR China flag, or Canadian flag flying over an American high school.

What we need to do is STOP giving benefits and jobs to people who broke the law to come here. Then we have another serious problem to deal with. Kids of illegal immigrants who grew up as Americans should have a path to legitimate citizenship. Maybe that path is serving in the US military. We can figure that out. It makes no sense to kick them out; they didn’t break any laws themselves.

The most important thing we need to do is stop crushing business with taxes and too many regulations. We pay those taxes for businesses in form of higher prices and lost jobs. Only when businesses make money and need more workers will employment go up. High taxes and other high costs are driving businesses off shore. We are on the path to third world status.

This Administration doesn’t get it. TSA groping is just one way we are being abused by them every day.

Liberty_Belle says:

August 16, 2011 at 9:28 am

The administration (along with the previous one) DOES get it and this is just another more example of how these folks are continually moving toward total control of everyone at all times. If even a SINGLE terrorist had been caught using the TSA’s methods, we’d have heard about it, guaranteed. Of course, they argue that the procedure deters criminal behavior, but subjecting EVERYONE to this invasive bull is ridiculous. My mom, a petite white senior, and I recently traveled together as I was her caretaker after a major surgery left her using a walker and/or wheel chair. The TSA folks were polite enough about it, but we were both forced through the body scanner with no choice in the matter, and my poor disabled mom was put through the wringer — a full pat down, required to get out of the wheelchair and WALK through the scanner using only a cane, which was dangerous and a violation of her post-surgical instructions — and I was ‘randomly’ selected for ‘enhanced screening’. A number of legal scholars have identified the invasive screening procedures as a clear violation of the 4th amendment of the Constitution, but it’s happening around the clock. They have air travelers over a barrel.

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jec says:

September 7, 2011 at 10:22 am

There is a lot of invasion of privacy in all the patdowns. As a disabled person with several major joints replaced, its a guarrentee each time I go thru security. Last week, at least I got a chuckle..I fly with a small service dog, female who is not fixed. The agent –who was being rather irate –as I had to sit down (I can not stand very long or hold up my arm for tsa searches) –was told to to remove the diaper from my dog..I tried to mention she was in season..was told to be quiet….I looked around..and saw some of the female agents chuckling..the man was patting down this tiny little 12 lb dog–without gloves..under her tummy..and got himself a handful of messy…HE WAS HORRIFIED–and left immediately to the laughs of the other screeners. I got an ovation from the passangers who watched…

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