Airport Security Is In The Very Best Of Hands

N.Y. cold case experts question Newark airport guard who assumed false ID

The arrest of an illegal immigrant — who authorities say worked as a Newark Airport security supervisor under a false identity for 20 years — has renewed police interest in the 1992 unsolved murder of the man whose identity he assumed.

New York City cold case investigators spent more than two hours questioning Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole about the murder following his arrest on Monday for identity theft, authorities said. And they were planning to compare the fingerprints of the Nigerian national and Elizabeth resident to unmatched prints found at the scene of the fatal shooting in a Y.M.C.A. in Queens, a Port Authority official said.

Got that? He worked as a security supervisor at Newark Airport for twenty years using a false identity. Actually a stolen identity from a guy who was later murdered. Twenty years means that he was there before the September 11, 2001 attacks and that he worked there for ten more years after the attacks.

A resume on file with the Port Authority indicates Oyewole was hired at Newark in March 1992 under the name Jerry Thomas.

Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole versus Jerry Thomas? No wonder he stole the ID. Besides four months after his ID was stolen Jerry Thomas didn’t need it any longer because he was dead.

Investigators were still trying to find out Tuesday how Oyewole obtained what appeared to be Thomas’ birth certificate and Social Security card, documents he used to get his job, a state driver license and high school equivalency degree.

Thomas’s story is he bought it from a cab driver who has since been deported.

Oyewole’s attorney, Regina Lynch, could not be reached for comment.

Probably too busy banging her head against a wall. Who could blame her?

Oyewole got a security guard license from the New Jersey State Police by using Thomas’ name and documents. And he was given clearances that also included fingerprint checks by the Customs and Border Patrol and the Transportation Security Administration. The Port Authority, which operates the airport, said it relies on the private security companies it hires to vet its own employees and provide proof of the required background checks.

A spokesman for the Custom and Border Patrol said Monday that fingerprint checks did not turn up any concerns because neither Thomas’s nor Oyewole’s prints were found in criminal databases when background checks were conducted. But an NYPD spokesman on Tuesday said Thomas, who was 41 when he was killed, had a criminal history that included drug possession, burglary, robbery and resisting arrest and that his fingerprints had been taken.

“Duck Dodge, Hide!” These guys would do a better job of vetting people than the NJSP, the various federal agencies, and the private security agency. Even the Farrelly Brothers couldn’t come up with this shit.

Officials and a spokesman for the company Oyewole worked for, FJC Security Services, have said he had an unblemished employee record. He had worked for three other security companies that had Port Authority contracts at the airport before working for FJC.

I’d advise you to follow Attorney Lynch’s lead and STFU. You are not helping yourself here.

Although rare, illegal aliens have been charged federally for using false documents on applications to get private airport security jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.

How do we know that they are “rare” since it seems to be ridiculously easy to obtain a fake ID and slip past all those highly paid law enforcement agents? For all we know this could be widespread, but not recognized because of those alleged “loopholes”.

In case you are wondering why there is still private security at airports since we have all those highly trained and vigilant TSA employees, the answer is that they guard the place when most of the operations are shut down. Great, so we have who knows who guarding airport facilities during the middle of the night when no one is around. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?

Oh, and he’s Nigerian. That’s not a blanket condemnation of Nigerians but there is some history  to suggest it’s slightly possible.

This makes me feel oh so safe and secure when I fly.