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BOSTON (WWLP) - A former American Airlines flight attendant has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly recording or attempting to record a minor who was using a lavatory aboard an aircraft in September 2023. The flight attendant, 36-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III, of Charlotte, NC, was arrested in January in Lynchburg, VA, where he has been in federal custody since. Thompson faces one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. According to the indictment, on September 2, 2023, while working as a flight attendant onboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Boston, Thompson video-recorded or attempted to surreptitiously video-record a 14-year-old girl as she used the aircraft lavatory. Allegedly, Thompson concealed his iPhone beneath red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid and recorded a video. When the minor victim returned to her seat, she informed her parents, who then reported the incident to other flight attendants onboard. Law enforcement was notified, and upon the flight's arrival at Boston's Logan Airport, Thompson's iPhone was found to have been restored to factory settings. A subsequent search of Thompson's suitcase revealed 11 stickers identical to those observed by the minor victim on the back of the toilet seat. Further investigation uncovered four additional instances between January and August 2023 where Thompson recorded minors using lavatories on aircraft, with victims as young as seven years old. Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were found in Thompson's iCloud account. All minor victims involved in this matter have been identified and their families contacted by law enforcement. Additionally, hundreds of images of AI-generated child pornography were found stored on Thompson's iCloud account. The charges against Thompson carry severe penalties if found guilty, including a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison for attempted sexual exploitation of children and up to 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor. Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution. 22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts in March 1953. Watch the 22News digital edition on weekdays at 4 p.m.