"Woman accused of groping TSA agent at U.S. airport"

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Woman accused of groping TSA agent at U.S. airport
By Karen Petersen
The Huntsville (AL) Travel Examiner 


A Colorado woman faces a felony count of sexual abuse after allegedly
groping a female agent with the U.S. Transportation Securities
Administration. It happened Thursday afternoon at Arizona's Sky Harbor
International Airport.
 
Phoenix police say 61-year-old Yukari Mihamae grabbed the left breast of the
unidentified agent Thursday afternoon at an airport checkpoint.
 
According to the woman's TSA colleagues, Mihamae refused to go through
passenger screening and became argumentative before she squeezed and twisted
the agent's breast with both hands.
 
Police were called and say Mihamae admitted grabbing the TSA agent and
continued to argue with officers before she was arrested. She spent a night
in the Maricopa County Jail before being released Friday. 
 
Mihamae reportedly lives in Longmont, Colo., and is self-employed. TSA
agents conduct federal mandated passenger screenings at airports across the
U.S., including Huntsville International Airport. The TSA has come under
fire by some critics for excessive screening of travelers.  Lawmakers,
including Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) compared the pat-downs now being
used as part of airport security screening measures to sexual assault. 
 
"There are many of us who believe this would be deemed a sexual assault on a
person," Chaffetz said in March. 
 
Regardless of how you feel about tight airport security measures, police say
taking matters into your own hands is never a good idea. At the least you
might miss your flight; at the most, your final destination might be the
local jail.

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