TSA hired priest accused of molesting girls to do pat downs

The Transportation and Security Administration decided not to perform a background check on a defrocked priest who was accused of molesting girls.

According to UPI, the former priest, Thomas Harkins, was hired a couple of years ago to perform pat downs at the Philadelphia airport. Back in 2002 Harkins was removed from the Catholic Church after he was accused of molesting two grade-school girls. Harkins never faced criminal charges but the Diocese of Camden did end up settling a civil lawsuit, for over $150,000, arising from accusations . According to Raw Story, the TSA decided not to take any action against Harkins because allegations alone do not warrant dismissal nor does it disqualify someone from landing a job with the TSA. A background check was not performed on Harkins because after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there was an urgency to hire agents. According to Examiner, now the TSA requires that background checks be done on all employees. Harkins no longer does pat downs and he has not held the job position that required him to do pat downs since 2004, because he was promoted to a supervisor position.