TSA hired priest accused of molesting girls to do pat downs
Source: rawstory.com
The Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) didn’t bother to do a background check on a priest who had been defrocked for molesting girls before they gave him a job, which included doing pat downs on children at Philadelphia International Airport.
The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday reported that the agency confirmed that 65-year-old Thomas Harkins had been forced out of the priesthood over allegations that he had sexually abused two grade-school girls.
But the TSA took no actions because “[a]n allegation alone does not warrant dismissal or automatically disqualify applicants from employment with the TSA,” spokesperson Ann Davis told the Inquirer.
The TSA said that they had hired Harkins without a background check because of an urgent need for agents after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Today, the agency no longer conducts mass hirings and a background check is required for every employee.
A spokesperson for the Camden diocese said that Harkins had been barred from presenting himself as a priest or attending church services, according to Camden diocese spokesperson Peter Feuerherd.
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Read the full article at: rawstory.com
