Suburban Woman Arrested At Midway After TSA Screeners Find Gun In Bag
(CBS) --A 58-year-old Lemont woman has been arrested at Midway Airport - because the TSA says she was caught with a handgun and ammunition in her carry-on luggage.
The TSA says one of its agents spotted the 9-millimeter handgun on the X-ray machine at Midway - in the carry-on of 58-year-old Faith DuBois of Lemont.
They say she was on her way to Fort Myers, Florida - until she was arrested and charged with one felony count of boarding an aircraft with a weapon.
"In addition to that, passenger can face a civil fine from the TSA, which we do impose after we review the case. And those can range from $1,500 to $11,000 for any single incident of detecting a weapon at the checkpoint."
TSA Spokesman Michael McCarthy says agents found six guns in all of last year at Midway. So far, only two months into this year, they've found three.
"The main thing is, it really slows down the screening process for everybody at the checkpoint. Because we need to stop the screening process and call over local law enforcement to assist. And that's what happened in this case," McCarthy says.
In this case, the Cook County State's Attorney says DuBois had the unloaded handgun, plus a clip containing seven live rounds, all in a white sock that was packed into the front pocket of a carry-on bag.
Bond was set at $10,000 which means she has to come up with 10 percent, or $1,000 to get out of jail.