Lambert Police arrest man for stealing luggage

By Alex Fees

KSDK -- Police at Lambert St. Louis-International Airport say a man arrested for stealing luggage last week had four pieces of luggage in his possession and 12 more at home.

The suspect, a 36-year-old man, was arrested September 16, according to Lambert Airport Police Chief Paul Mason.

"He admitted that he was stealing bags, and that he had stolen bags in the past," Mason said. "He then took the detectives to two locations in the city where we recovered 12 bags that he had stolen over the last three or four months."

Mason described the two locations as the suspect's residence and the residence of one of his relatives. Mason says police will complete their report this week and forward it to the St. Louis County Prosecutor for possible charges. The suspect has been released while those charges are pending. Police are working on returning the luggage to the owners.

At Lambert there is apparently no security system or personnel in place to make sure nobody walks off with your luggage. Mason says that is left up to the airlines assigned to each baggage carousel. Travelers report a similar situation at other airports.

"I fly to a lot of airports," Mason said. "I flew into Washington-National this weekend and no one checked my claim check."

Mike Wind travels between St. Louis and Atlanta on a regular basis.

"I've seen more people monitoring in Atlanta-Hartsfield, for instance," said Wind. "This airport, I really haven't seen anybody monitoring luggage at all."

Debbie Woischke of Florida says she flies all over the world.

"Years ago they used to have somebody check each tag as they left the carousel and make sure it matched the one you had. They no longer do that," said Woischke.

Stan Hollander, a visitor from Atlanta, says flyer beware.

"I fly a lot. I'm a Platinum flier for Delta Airlines. I fly all over the place and I don't see anybody checking bags," she said. "What I try to do is get here early and stand as close as I can to where the bags come out and keep a close eye on it."