A Florida woman panicked after her flight was canceled when her pink hard-shell roller bag didn't arrive at baggage claim.
She then checked the location-tracking feature on the Apple Watch she had packed in her bag, which, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, was broadcasting from an address about six miles north of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where she had checked in her luggage.
The woman went to the address and found no bags or anyone inside the home, but took photos and video of items scattered outside, the sheriff's office said in an affidavit.
This sparked an investigation that led to the arrest in March of a man who worked at the airport and lived at the address. According to the Sheriff's Office, the man was charged with theft after security cameras captured him rummaging through the woman's bags at the airport. The Sheriff's Office said the man stole more than $5,000 worth of belongings, including an Apple Watch, iPad, MacBook, jewelry, clothing and toiletries.
The woman, whose name is Paola Garcia, who was not identified in court documents, spoke to Florida television station WPLG this week about her decision to go to the man's address after Spirit Airlines canceled her flight on March 3.
Garcia, a college student, could not be reached for comment Friday, but she said in an interview with WPLG that Spirit Airlines had told her they would deliver her bags to her home. When she saw the address, she wondered, “How is Spirit Airlines going to get my suitcases there?”
Garcia told WPLG that he was specifically hoping to go to the home to retrieve his MacBook, which he needed for a test, and called 911 when he saw other packages outside the house.
“The first thing the police said to me was, 'What are you doing here?'” Garcia said. “'It's very dangerous to be here.'”
The Broward County Sheriff's Office said a search of an internal database of airport employees matched the address to that of a man named Junior Geneus Basile, who was working at the airport the day the woman's bag disappeared.
The sheriff's office then contacted Basile's employer, Paradis Lagardère, which operates shops and restaurants at the airport, and obtained surveillance camera footage from that day.
The sheriff's office said in an affidavit that the footage showed Basile entering a storage room at the Paradis Lagardere carrying a pink hard-shell roller bag matching the one the woman had checked into Spirit Airlines before her flight was canceled.
Basile can be seen rummaging through the bag and removing the MacBook and other items, according to the affidavit. The footage also shows him placing small items into a black bag and placing the MacBook and pink roller bag into a clear plastic bag, the affidavit states.
Based on that evidence, the sheriff's office said it has charged Basile, 29, with grand larceny, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Basile has pleaded not guilty, according to court records. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, and a phone number listed under his name could not be reached.
Garcia told WPLG that she still hasn't found her stolen belongings, and that she normally puts her pink roller bag in an overhead bin when flying, but Spirit Airlines asked her to check it in.
Spirit Airlines said in a statement that it had no evidence that airline employees were involved in the theft, but that it “issued refund checks to passengers as a courtesy on May 20.”
“We take this matter very seriously,” Paradis Lagardère said in a statement.
“The employee was terminated upon learning of the incident,” the company said, adding that it was cooperating with the investigation.
The prevalence of AirTags, Tiles and other trackable devices has led to arrests in the past.
Authorities say a traveler with an AirTag in his bag in 2022 helped Florida sheriff's deputies identify a Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport employee who was accused of stealing more than $16,000 in items from passengers' luggage.
In May, the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff's Office announced it had arrested a driver who struck and injured a 15-year-old bicyclist, dragged him off the road and fled the scene. Investigators said they traced the location of AirPods found under a floor mat in the boy's car to the driver's home.
Alain Delaquerière contributed to the research.
