A security supervisor at Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $20,000 worth of items from checked luggage.

Hired by the Transportation Security Administration in 2007, the supervisor was fired in July 2009 after the thefts were discovered. In pleading guilty, Randy Pepper, a supervisory transportation security officer, admitted to taken money and jewelry from luggage he was inspecting at Sea-Tac.

 

Authorities began investigating Pepper after another TSA employee reported seeing him removing items from luggage. According to the statement, most of the items stolen by Pepper could not be recovered because they were melted down.