After an HBO employee reported the theft of a $47,900 camera from a bag he had checked at Newark in September, seller “alirla”  posted the camera for sale on eBay.

DHS investigators used their own eBay account to place the winning bid on the camera, and arranged to pay Brown through a PayPal account.

They gave Brown an address to ship where he sent the camera and paid for shipping with his credit card. Authorities also traced the eBay account to a Verizon Internet address listed to Brown's fiancée Dee. The couple lived together at the Maplewood, New Jersey residence where the Verizon account was registered.

When investigators raided Brown's home on October 1, 2008, they seized  66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, 20 cell phones, 17 sets of electronic games, 13 pieces of jewelry, 12 GPS devices, 11 MP3 players, eight camera lenses, six video cameras and two DVD players.

Brown confessed that he began stealing two to three items per week from the airport beginning in September 2007. He told authorities he put most of the stolen items up for sale on eBay.

Brown faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

 465 Transportation Security Officers have been terminated for theft, or 0.4 percent of those employed by the TSA since May 1, 2003.

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