Kit Roberts
An airline passenger took matters into her own hands after finding out that her bag was missing.
Paola Garcia had that horrible sinking feeling as she waited at Carousel 4 at Terminal 4 of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida for 'at least two hours'.
Although she would usually take pink hard-shell case into the cabin with her, on this occasion she claimed she had been forced to check it in.
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Unfortunately Paola's caution about checking bags in was proved well founded as her suitcase went missing during her journey.
It contained a number of valuables including her Macbook, an iPad, two Apple Watches, as well as jewelry and designer clothes.
Unbeknownst to Paola, all of these items had allegedly been taken by 29-year-old Junior Bazile, who worked in one of the retail outlets in the airport.
According to arrest affidavit, as well as images, the man had taken the suitcase to the back of the store where he worked.
Once there, he allegedly removed the expensive items before placing the brightly-coloured case in a plastic bag.
Recalling her feeling of panic, she told Local 10: "In my mind, I’m thinking I need my computer because I go to the university, I need my computer no matter what."
Unaware that the bag had been stolen, Spirit Airlines told Paola not to worry and that her luggage would be sent to her.
She said: “We sent your luggage to your house, so I give my address to Spirit."
The following morning, however, things took a strange turn.
Paola saw that her Apple Watch was pinging, but not from the airport - from an address around 15 minutes from the airport.
She decided to go to the location, only to discover that there were suitcases everywhere.
Seeing this, Paola starting recording video and called 911, recalling: “The police told me was like, ‘What are you doing here? This is so dangerous for you to be here.’”
After police looked into the matter they traced the address back to Bazile, who had been working the day the case was stolen.
Bazile was arrested and charged with grand theft.
Spirit Airlines has since released a statement saying it reimbursed Paola as a 'courtesy'.
The statement said: “We issued a reimbursement check to the guest as a courtesy, even though we are not currently aware of any evidence that any Spirit employee was involved.
“We take any allegation of this nature seriously, and we are investigating.”
The incident remains under investigation.
UNILAD has contacted Broward Sheriff’s Office and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for comment.