Georgia Man Sentenced for Evading Security Requirements at Philadelphia International Airport

PHILADELPHIA - United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that David Easley, 39, of Georgia, was sentenced to 26 months of supervised release, with the first two months on home confinement, by United States District Judge Gail A. Weilheimer for evading security requirements at Philadelphia International Airport.

The defendant was charged by information in May of this year and pleaded guilty in July to one count of evading airport security, arising from his use of the identification badge of an airline employee to access a secured, sterile area of Philadelphia International Airport, knowingly and willfully bypassing airport security. Easley has never been employed at the Philadelphia International Airport.

As detailed in court filings and statements, on March 9, 2024, Easley was a ticketed domestic airline passenger, scheduled to fly from Philadelphia to Atlanta, Georgia, on a flight departing at 7:05 p.m. At approximately 6:35 p.m., video surveillance captured Easley using an airport Secure Identification Display Area (SIDA) badge belonging to an airport employee, typing a passcode on the keypad, and gaining access through the secure doors leading from the public side of the airport ticketing area to the secure area of the airport.

The defendant entered a restricted area for employees that is between the public, pre-security ticketing area and the public, post-security "sterile" terminal. Easley did not go through TSA screening before entering this secure area.

Easley then used another door to enter the public "sterile" terminal area of the airport, that being the area where screened passengers have access to board their flights. The TSA encountered Easley while conducting random security inspections to prevent prohibited items and unauthorized individuals from accessing the sterile area.

This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Priya De Souza.