Primary navigation
15660 N Dallas Parkway #800, Dallas, TX 75248
Toll-Free: (800) 311-2656
Phone: (972) 361-0900
Fax: (972) 361-0901
star-telegram.com
Two arrested in DFW Airport thefts
Thieves are going shopping at DFW Airport, officials say
By Mitch Mitchell
November 23, 2011
GRAPEVINE – When thieves go shopping, it's not necessarily at a store.
This month, Department of Public Safety officers at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport have dealt with several thefts, including by one suspect who told arresting officers that he had snatched 20 bags during a layover.
In separate cases, two employees of janitorial services have been accused of stealing small electronic devices that they found while working. They should have turned the devices in to the airport's lost and found, but kept them, police said.
In the case of the passenger, Udorn Bo Phichitchaleunsak, 31, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was arrested Sunday by officer Tammy Spindle who said she watched him grab a woman's bag while the woman was at a security check-in table repacking items. The officer reported that Phichitchaleunsak rolled the bag toward an exit at Terminal C.
At the same time, another man shouted that Phichitchaleunsak had also tried to steal his bag. The man told officers that Phichitchaleunsak had grabbed a bag off his shoulder as he left a Terminal C restroom, but he wrestled it away, the police report stated. Phichitchaleunsak followed the man and tried to take his bag again after he set it down, the man said. Again, he stopped the theft and called 911.
Phichitchaleunsak told officers that he took the woman's bag because he "wanted to look for stuff," the report stated. Spindle said she asked Phichitchaleunsak how many bags he had taken that day, and he replied about 20.
Phichitchaleunsak had flown into DFW from Los Angeles and was scheduled to make a connecting flight to Nashville, police said.
He was released from Tarrant County Jail on $10,000 bail, according to county records. He faces theft charges.
Arrested in unrelated cases were Fredrica Williams and Haji Mberwa, who worked at DFW for companies providing janitorial services.
Williams, 35, of Dallas, worked for Prospect Airport Services, David Magana, the airport spokesman, said. She is accused of finding an iPad that she took off airport property, he said. She was arrested on Nov. 11 and faces a theft charge.
Mberwa, 34, of Fort Worth, worked for Flagship Airports, another janitorial company. He is accused of pawning a Samsung tablet computer and a BlackBerry cellphone after finding them while working.
Police found the items at a Cash America pawnshop in Fort Worth on Nov. 11 and traced the items to Mberwa, a police report states.
Mberwa faces a theft charge.
Williams and Mberwa no longer work at the airport, but their legal status could not be learned Wednesday.
Related links: