The TSA had a major, major fail at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday. A Greek national suspected of raping his girlfriend in Queens was arrested at JFK while trying to flee the country. While searching his bags, police discovered an unpleasant surprise in his carry-on--a stun gun.
Prodromos Vasilopoulos, 23, had allegedly used the weapon to subdue and rape his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend on Tuesday, the Queens County district attorney said. He was arrested at JFK airport Wednesday.
Vasilopoulos, who is from Greece, was waiting for his flight to London, when Port Authority police and Customs agents took him into custody at the request of New York City's special victims unit.
"During the course of conducting an inventory of the suspect's bags while at the gate, PAPD officers discovered a weapon that may have been used in the commission of the alleged crimes," the Port Authority police said in a statement.
It was described as a powerful 3,800-watt stun gun, ABC News' affiliate WABC reported.
Vasilopoulos allegedly showed up at his ex-girlfriend's house posing as a UPS delivery man, then zapped her twice in the stomach with the stun gun. The woman then says Vasilopoulos beat her and tried to strangle her before raping her. She told police at the hospital that he was going back to Greece on a Virgin Atlantic flight with a stopover in London. Apparently they caught him just as he was about to board.
To put it mildly, this is unnerving. Anyone crazy enough to take a stun gun with him on a plane is probably crazy enough to use it. The TSA is investigating--but to put it mildly, somebody needs to be fired.