Michael Arato, a former Newark TSA supervisor at the B-3 checkpoint in Terminal B, was sentenced last week to 30 months in prison for taking bribes and kickbacks to look the other way while another employee regularly stole items from passengers at the airport. The two men believed they had a great scheme going.

Prosecutors said the two agents often targeted foreigners and subjected them to additional screening, during which time they would pocket cash found in their carry-on bags.

This is absolutely appalling. These passengers have come here on a vacation and are, most likely, confused by some of the rules and regulations we have. So, while they are being compliant and doing as they are asked to do, a TSA agent, who believes that he is above the law, steals from them.

The scheme unraveled as passengers began to complain about missing money. The co-worker, Al Raimi, 29, of Woodbridge, told authorities he had been stealing money from passengers passing through the B-3 checkpoint since October 2009, and that Arato knew about it and agreed to the kickbacks, the government said.

The B-3 checkpoint serves international passengers, including those traveling on AirIndia, which has a daily non-stop flight from the airport to India, departing around 6:20 p.m.

Starting in August 2009, Transportation Security Administration officials and Port Authority police received numerous complaints from passengers scheduled to fly AirIndia reporting that money and other valuables were missing after their baggage was hand searched by TSA employees at the B-3 checkpoint.

Arato worked at the B-3 checkpoint from Sept. 2009 to October 2010, and during that time permitted Raimi to steal between $10,000 and $30,000 in cash from travelers, the government said. In exchange, Raimi would “kick up” a portion of the stolen money to Arato.

Over a three-week period in September and October 2010, surveillance video captured Arato accepting approximately $3,100 in bribes, the government said.

While Arato believed that Raimi was stealing, Raimi could have just as easily been placing items, such as drugs, weapons, or explosives in the bags as well. For a mere $3,100, Arato could have been making himself a much bigger accessory than just theft.

Raimi told investigators that if a passenger left the airport without noticing that their money was missing, he and Arato would go into an office and divide the stolen cash, the government said. Raimi also told investigators that when he and Arato worked the same shift, he would steal $400 to $700, on average, from passengers and kick back $200 to $400 to Arato, the government said.

During the investigation, which was conducted by investigators from the Port Authority and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Raimi secretly recorded conversations with Arato, and can be heard complaining in a recording from Sept. 15, 2010 that he had not been able to steal anything because all the passengers whose bags he had checked had “no more than two three hundred tops.” Arato tells Raimi on the same recording that “if I find an envelope, I’m taking it, I swear to my kids,” the government said.

Raimi is to be sentenced on September 20, 2011. Arato will also be subjected to three years of supervised release and pay $24,150 to those he stole from.

They also discussed how they did not feel bad stealing from foreign travelers, who they said were “leaving this country with our money.” Arato accepted $1,200 from Raimi during the shift captured on the recording, the government said.

Apparently, Arato and Raimi believe it’s okay to steal from people on their vacation because, you know, they’re just foreigners.

What these men did is far more than just steal from foreign travelers. They undermined any respect anyone has left for the TSA. They have put people at risk, shamed the government, and generally showed a huge disrespect for anyone not American. Yet, the politicians in Washington don’t understand why no one else in the world has any respect for the United States, nor why tourists are continuing to head elsewhere on vacation.