TSA facial recognition device prompts woman’s arrest at Tampa airport

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A woman was arrested Thursday after the Transportation Security Administration’s facial recognition devices detected a passenger trying to use someone else’s ID and boarding pass at Tampa International Airport, the agency said.

Brittany Lynn Anderson, 38, of Tampa, inserted a driver’s license into the credential authentication technology machine and a mismatch was flagged, officials said.

That led to a manual inspection by a transportation security officer.

Anderson allegedly showed the officer an ID and a Spirit Airlines boarding pass that belonged to someone else, according to an arrest report obtained by Nexstar’s WFLA. She allegedly told the officer “she was going through some rough times” and “that’s why she looks different” on the ID.

Anderson reportedly told the officer that her ID was expired and that she had asked a friend to purchase her ticket under someone else’s name so she could fly to Las Vegas, according to the report. The boarding pass and ID card belonged to a person currently in jail.

The woman handed the officer her expired ID. Data from the National Crime Information Center revealed that she had an active warrant out of Pennsylvania for “financial responsibilities,” the report states.

Anderson was arrested on a charge of criminal use of personal identification information, police said.

The credential authentication technology machine, located at TSA checkpoints, is equipped with cameras and a tablet to “match the face of the person standing at the checkpoint with the face that appears on the traveler’s ID such as the person’s driver’s license or passport,” according to the TSA.

The system, which does not store any photos after they’re taken, also confirms that a passenger is ticketed to fly out of the airport.