6 TSA workers at Bush Airport charged with making false statements

[DoYouEverWonder]

April 3, 2006

From 11 News Staff Reports

HOUSTON -- Six Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees have been charged with lying about their past criminal histories during the employment application process to obtain their positions as Transportation Security Officers, according to U.S. Attorney Donald J. DeGabrielle.

In separate indictments returned by a federal grand jury Monday, Lance Castillo, 25, Christopher Gaona, 35, Roy Burt Ray, Jr. 40, Larry Ratcliff, 38, and Jeno Mouton, 27, all of Houston, and Gilbert Madrigal III, 31, of Corpus Christi, Texas, are each charged with making material false statements to federal law enforcement officials.

Warrants for the arrest of the defendants are outstanding.

When individuals apply for positions with TSA, they are required to complete several forms, one of which asks the applicants to answer the question, “Have you been arrested or charged with an offense in the last seven years?”, and to list those arrests or convictions, if any.

The indictment naming Lance Castillo accuses him of making a false statement by denying he had been arrested in the past seven years, when he had been allegedly arrested for the offense of aggravated assault in 2003.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou060403_gj_TSAcharges.8cf67dea.html