Caught on camera: Airline worker steals from passenger's bag

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WKRC/KCAL/KCBS/CNN Newsource) - Shocking video out of Louisiana shows a gate employee at an airport stealing from a passenger's bag.

The victim, Keyonne Brooks, was flying from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport back home to Los Angeles on Feb. 19 after attending a funeral.

He says he accidentally left his carry-on bag at the ticket counter, so he filed a lost and found claim, but nothing came up.

"I had a gut feeling that something went wrong," said Brooks.

Brooks then put in a public records request for security footage from the gate, and couldn't believe what he saw.

"I was appalled," he said. "My heart just sunk."

The footage shoes a Spirit Airlines gate agent rifling through the bag, pocketing some of the belongings and discarding the rest.

"And then she was dumping it out maliciously," Brooks said.

Brooks says, among other things, the bag contained jewelry, a family heirloom, and life-saving medication.

"If they don't find the garbage bag with my contents, then I will never get that back," he said.

Next, the video shows the employee moving to a trash can, dumping the medication out while other coworkers join her.

One of them seems to be laughing and talking on the phone.

The employee then throws the bag and the rest of its contents into the trash before walking away.

Brooks sent the airline the footage, and had the cost of his flight refunded.

However, he's worried that this wasn't an isolated incident.

"If it happened to me and I got the video footage, how many other people has this happened to?" he said.

Spirit Airlines released a statement, saying:

"We are aware of this matter, and our vendor suspended four of their employees at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport pending an investigation into the matter.

Spirit Airlines is committed to treating all guests with respect and delivering high-quality service, and we will take appropriate action as necessary following the completion of the vendor's investigation.

Spirit has already issued a refund for the flight on February 23, and the vendor is expediting the compensation for the items."