[size=4]Feds: Criminals Given Jobs at Airport[/size=4]

By Joann Loviglio Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 8, 2002; 2:42 AM

PHILADELPHIA –– A woman who hired screeners at the Philadelphia airport was charged with altering job applications and allowing people with murder and weapons convictions to get jobs.

Rochelle Miles, an employee of Huntleigh USA Corp., was charged Tuesday with making false statements to the Federal Aviation Administration about at least 20 airport screeners hired between August 1997 and January 1999.

St. Louis-based Huntleigh, which provides airport security and screening services to about 50 airports nationwide, stopped providing security at Philadelphia International Airport in September 2000.

Miles falsely told the FAA that each screener's five-year employment history was verified in accordance with FAA regulations, authorities said. She also falsely told the agency that each employee passed a test required of all airport screeners, prosecutors said.

Miles also is charged with failing to request a criminal history report for employees with known gaps in their employment history. As a result, prosecutors allege, Miles hired several employees with criminal convictions.

[b]On Monday, a man carried two loaded semiautomatic handguns through a Huntleigh-run security checkpoint at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, authorities said[/b].

A message left for a Huntleigh spokeswoman Tuesday was not immediately returned. There was no telephone listing for Miles and she could not immediately be reached; her attorney, John A. Turlik, declined to comment.

The Philadelphia airport has a history of security problems. Argenbright Security Inc. hired more than a dozen guards with criminal convictions to run security checkpoints in Philadelphia. Argenbright has since left the airport security business.

See article at:[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50631-2002May8.html[/url]

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