© CBS NewsThomas Harkins was a priest in New Jersey until May 2002 and now works as a Transportation Security Administration agent at Philadelphia International Airport.
In 2002, Thomas Harkins was permanently removed by the Catholic Church after 20-plus years of allegations that the former clergyman had molested children at parishes across the East Coast. Today, he's your friendly TSA agent.
Despite being excommunicated and forced to pay around $195,000 to settle civil lawsuit relating to a barrage of sex-crime charges in the greater Philadelphia area, Harkins, now 65, didn't have a problem finding a new job after being booted from the Catholic Church in 2002. Shortly after, he was hired by the Transportation Security Administration and assigned to a position that required him to routinely pat-down young children and subject them to the evasive, hands-on body scans that have become a hallmark of post-9/11 America.
The Church reached out to the TSA and told the federal agency of Harkins' sordid pass - which includes several allegations that suggest the priest molested young girls as early as 1979. He was transferred in 2000 to a prison to serve as a chaplain there and, two years later, permanently removed from the Catholic community.
As a TSA agent, Harkins touched passengers - children and adults, alike - until 2004. At that point, the
Philadelphia Inquirer has learned, he was promoted to a supervising provision where he remains today, overseeing checked baggage. Now he maintains a quiet life as a federal security staffer, despite once looking at a life in jail for a series of sex crimes.
Because those crimes never made it through a full court trial, however, the TSA says they have their hands tied.
"An allegation alone does not warrant dismissal or automatically disqualify applicants from employment with the TSA," spokeswoman Ann Davis tells the
Inquirer.
Comment:
TSA Hiring Pedophiles and Child Pornographers
Thomas Harkin, Former Catholic Priest Accused Of Sex Abuse, Now Works For TSA