Did TSA Swipe a Slice of Passenger’s Chocolate Cake?
- Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:41pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
- Print »
- Email »
First it was a report that the Transportation Security Administration confiscated a Massachusetts woman’s cupcake.
Now, a Florida man is claiming the TSA helped themselves to a chunk of the chocolate cake in his suitcase.
Joe Maltese was visiting relatives in New York earlier this month. Before he flew back, his mother-in-law packed a store-bought chocolate cake into his suitcase.
“I didn’t even know the cake was in there until I got home,” Maltese told the Palm Beach Post.
But what most stood out when he unpacked the treat was that a third of it was missing.
“It was a clean cut,” he told the newspaper. “And my wife asked me, ‘Did you already have a piece of the cake?’”
He hadn’t, and just figured his mother-in-law must have sent only part of a cake — only when his wife called her mother, she said she hadn’t cut it at all before putting it into the suitcase.
There had been a TSA “Notice of Bag Inspection” form in his suitcase to inform him that his suitcase had been checked before his flight back, which led Maltese to wonder.
“Are times that tough where TSA inspectors have to eat travelers’ food?” he asked. “Or did the inspector conduct a taste test to make certain it wasn’t contraband or a bomb?”
The TSA allows passengers to bring cakes and pies through its security checkpoint, though cautions they might be subject to additional screening. When the Post asked the TSA what could have happened to Maltese’s cake, the agency said it would examine the video recording from the screening areas.
“We reviewed the videotape for the entire period of time that the passenger’s bag would have gone through the screening process. At no time did we see anything resembling a cake removed from any suitcase,” a TSA representative wrote in an email. “There was a suitcase with boxes, and those boxes were not opened. I can‘t guarantee that was the passenger’s cake, but I want to stress that nobody opened a box with a cake or anything resembling a cake.”
Still, Maltese isn’t convinced.
“I swear there was a piece missing from that cake,” he said.
Popular Stories
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 685 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 534 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 445 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 373 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 331 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 288 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 296 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 188 Comments- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 148 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 301 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 288 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (103)
Mrs. Bowers
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:48pmHow cute is that? Things like this would just make me laugh. It’s like trying to send cookies to your son in the military. You’d better label them, “ religious material inside” or he’s not going to get a nibble!
My friends had her cookies eaten by her son’s drill sergeant. Too funny!
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:02pmI was in boot camp over Easter and my mom packed an Easter Bunny in my suitcase (unbeknownst to me)…they took it away. We were told to not have our family send any edibles, unless there were enough for all 80 girls in the company. My husband’s mom sent him cookies during boot camp…enough for the whole company. And when he was stationed overseas, she always sent him chocolate covered pretzels, fudge, etc. for Christmas.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:59pmMaybe Santa was hitching a ride and got hungry.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 10:13pmI remember when I was in Nam and I had a craving for some rolled tacos from Roberto’s Taco Stand. My wife sent them. It took almost a month to get them. Use your imagination and multiply it by 100.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 11:32pmNote to self: put laxative in all baked goods I attempt to transport by air.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 12:50am@TXPilot
Report Post »You took the words right out of my mouth. You did miss one word though…. lots!
Latter-Day-Soldier
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 3:17amFor CHIPS1: I knew a guy whose mom sent him an entire 24-pack of Dr. Pepper while in S. Korea! His mom did not know he could buy it at the PX. LOL
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on December 26, 2011 at 7:44am1) TSA could have cut it to test it. In which case you wouldn’t want it back.
2) FATHER-IN-LAW (or another house-guest) ate a slice and mother-in-law was unaware of that when she packed it.
RESTORING LOVE , July 26 27 28 , Dallas, TX
LINK UP NOW !! http://www.meetup.com/MercuryOneHQ
Do you GBTV?
Report Post »TRK
Posted on December 26, 2011 at 11:28amMaybe the next batch she sends should have ex-lax chocolate chunks.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:40pmChocolate cake? Hey! Michelle!! That’s not a nice thing to do!!!
Report Post »Maji
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:12pmHey they all get to “check out” your wife and children for free!
Don’t even have to buy porn anymore.
Pretty soon your daughter will have to be checked for virginity
like the middleast.
Al lalalalalalallah!
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:25pmIt is possible that the agent didn’t eat the cake himself but took a sample for Janet Napolitano to try.
Look at the rear end on the woman and tell me she doesn’t miss many meals and lots of deserts.
Maybe she shares with Michelle.
OMG
Report Post »crackerone
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:50pmBefore he flew back, his mother-in-law packed a store-bought chocolate cake into his suitcase.
“I didn’t even know the cake was in there until I got home,” …………Seriously?
Report Post »crackerone
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 4:20pmSorry Mr. Bill
Response wasn’t intended for you! In this day and age, sneaking a box into someone’s luggage boarding a plane, doesn’t pass the smell test. And the guys from Fed Ex take better care of your parcels, then baggage handler’s do with your luggage. Missing a piece of cake was this guy’s lucky day.
Merry Christmas!
Report Post »smokey888x2
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:10pmWhat’s the alternative? What would republican’s or libertarians do? Just asking.
My response would be better supervision of TSA but not sure past that. I do know that Israel does it all with x-military and some techniques w/ eye contact etc. but I’m really not sure of the extent of it all.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:48pmBan Muslims from America, and the West if possible. No Muslims, no terror threat, or at least it is so remote that it doesn’t require the sort of insane measures being endured, solely due to the problem of Islam and it being allowed in the West. What is so amazing is how people in the West are so willing to endure these measures rather than just admit that Islam is the problem.
Report Post »UrbanCombatSurvivor
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 11:23amA self avowed libertarian’s answer:
Stop infringing on my 2nd Amendment rights in the first place and your silly union thug TSA isn’t necessary. 9-11 would never have happened if Mother Government wasn’t trampling the 2nd Amendment rights of US Citizens.
First, the terrorists, statistically, would have lasted less than 5 minutes if the government didn’t violate our rights when we fly.
Second, airlines would never have been targeted in the first place, because the bomb-cowards only go for soft targets. 5 to 10 armed people on each plane removes them as a soft target.
What would Republicans do? The same thing the Dems would do, just more slowly. They’re all collectivists. R or D is meaningless to a critical thinker. All that matters is Collectivist or Individualist.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 6:12pmLibertarians are USELESS when it comes to the problem of Islam. Look at the fairy land policies of Ron Paul on the topic of Islam. Islam has to be dealt with specifically and directly, leaving it to everyone’s free choice FAILS because Islam does not allow free choice, people are born into it, no choice, and killed if they leave. Libertarians have NO answer for that.
Report Post »Donald
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:07pmCake
Jewelery
Clothes–while you wearing them
whose idea was the TSA ?
Report Post »smokie
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:32pmDon’t even think to have any Nat Sherman stuff anywhere around you. Lighters, cigarette cases, wallets are stolen.
Report Post »Anything nice, gone.
TSA are the 21st century highwaymen.
OzzWorx
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 10:27amNorm Mineta
Report Post »garbagecanlogic
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:46pmTSA: Totally Stooopid Agency.
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
Report Post »The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
Jinglebob
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:08pmWell they had to. How else could they tell if there wasn’t a file or a hack saw blade inside.
Report Post »momsense
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 3:56pmI can‘t believe some of the stories that i’ve read ! Just unbelievable
Report Post »Spike143
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:33pmNothing that a lot of chocolate exlax in the cake would not cure. Just saying!
Report Post »MrMagoo
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:44pmHA! Damn straight.A nice chocolate cake with some Exlax.Get those moroons in the bathroom blowing a load and they’d have less time harassing and stealing from passengers.
Report Post »conservativewoman
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:50pmLol!
Report Post »Outlaw_Josey_Wales
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:09pmCream filled cupcake.
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 4:26pmMy sister did something similar. She makes her husband a bagged lunch everyday. Well, he would come home from work starving and wanting dinner just about everyday of the week. She couldn’t figure why. She finally got him to confess that a co-worker was eating his lunch. Apparently this co-worker did this often with just about everyone on the crew. Well, my sister is kind of militant about things like that, so she baked up a batch of brownies with an entire box of EXLAX in them. She packed the brownies into his lunch box and warned him not to eat them. Well, the stealer got into them and ate most of them. She had to leave work early that day. I was told that my brother-in-law, nor any of his fellow employees, has had their lunches stolen since.
Report Post »p00gles
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:26pmHmmm, maybe people should start traveling with cakes made with loads of chocolate laxatives.
Report Post »Veritas Libertas
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:30pmIt would be considered an act of domestic terrorism and you would be prosecuted and made an example. It would be “movie” funny, but the reality would be a stark contrast.
Report Post »Steve2000
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 6:20pmSo poisoning others is the solution? Brilliant.
Report Post »BenInNY
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 7:02pm@steve2000 laxative is poison now? I may have a few doctors to sue over that fleet kit…
Report Post »Latter-Day-Soldier
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 3:53amJust imagine, entire teams of tsa having extreme cases of “intestinal distress” at the same time!
Report Post »Veritas Libertas: you want to see an example of “domestic terrorism”? This link http://www.youtube.com/?v=1kiPuyssrko is how tsa and some local law enforcement at McCarran international airport, Las Vegas treat a soldier on R&R who is on his way to Iraq.
snowflake220
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:23pmWhen I flew to Hawaii a few years back I also had a slip of paper in my checked bag telling me the TSA had to inspect my bag. They were kind enough to open all my vitamin bottles along with my nail polish and perfume and poured the contents of the nail polish and the perfume onto my pills. I had everything packed in seperate plastic bags so the TSA had to open all three bags and then toss them into ONE bag. They were kind enough to make sure to spill some of the nail polish all over my clothes also.
I did double check to make sure everything was closed tightly so I know it didn‘t open on it’s own before I packed my bag. I called TSA but was told I had to prove their employees did the damage. So was left with ruined clothes and having to buy more very expensive vitamins.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:21pmTake no food on Transit Systems… this is not Refugee Europe!
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:40pmYes…The USA is in lockdown by pedophiles like you Luke.
Report Post »Veritas Libertas
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:19pmMaybe someone should take the TSA employees a cake of their own. Maybe even have it personalized like a birthday cake. Eat a slice with them to prove it hasn’t been tampered with, and make sure the media is with you to point out why you’re doing this. It would be a great stunt for a radio show.
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:23pmHis mother in law is going senile .. She ate half before she packed it..
Report Post »Sam Brown
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:09pmOf course they go for the cake after all the nuts they been handleing.
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:20pmDisgusting!
TSA…Testical Squeezers R-us
I have no respect for these people.
Report Post »c0mm0nsense
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:07pmWho’s only the Candidate that will get rid of the TSA?
Report Post »“Come Join the Revolution”
Veritas Libertas
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:36pmRoger that!
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 25, 2011 at 2:18amWho will feel me up at the airport then. Usually you have to pay an extra $20 to get someone to call you names and grab your junk. Dude, come on, let a guy get his jolleys. Usually, if I hid a shampoo down my shorts, Helga breaks out the rubber gloves and gives me a what for. If I dress up as an old lady, whow nelly, they really go to town.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:03pmCome on, who wouldn’t be tempted to take a piece of cake. After all, Barrack and Moochelle will be saying, “let them eat cake”, very soon.
Report Post »ecso828
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:03pmHere’s a thought…. Mr. Maltese is lying about it.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:02pmstickeeeee fingers
Report Post »Donald
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:01pmTSA is going to kill the airlines.
Report Post »Square Dancer
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 5:04pmGoing to? Already is.
Report Post »TelepromoterNChief
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:55pmTSA is nothing more than a bunch of pedophile theives.
Report Post »last frontier
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:03pmIt’s the same thing when you take a motorhome into Mexico both are the same caliber of people.
Report Post »junior1971
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:53pmIs it just me or does that cake look absolutely delicious!
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:57pmJUNIOR… It’s not just you. That cake does look so good, that I can almost taste it.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:50pmToo funny-the least they could do and own up“ Say they replied ”we were checking for anything inside, and by the way, it was great. We coudn’t fit it back in so we ate it.” I could at least respect that. Now they are looking for more money to do tsa all over the country-it will be more than chocolate cake that will come up missing.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:48pmAnyone up for some fun? Make up yummy looking ex-lax cakes and send them through screening areas across our country. Within a few hours there wouldn’t be enough TSA screeners left not occupying the bathrooms to inspect anyone. Wouldn’t that make for better holiday travels for all?
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:52pmI like ur idea, lol.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:04pmOH .. I lLOVE it! If I were flying I would do exactly that .. but I am boycotting because of the TSA thugs .. I would however volunteer to bake “your” cake for another flyer!
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:12pmI’ll be sure to remember that one.
Report Post »Mix some rat droppings in the icing and call it Chunky Delight Cake.
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:14pm@CatB — I have to agree with you, too many problems I have had with the TSA at the airport and even away from them; they are nothing but thugs, and ex-lax cakes — I hope they enjoy the cake, especially one of good chocolate — and may it pass slowly.
Report Post »Veritas Libertas
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:22pmFunny, but it would be labeled a terrorist attack. You would be prosecuted and made an example.
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 2:30pm@Veritas Libertas
They’d never catch the perp because they would be long gone by the time nature called. They couldn’t prove a thing without admitting to theft. What cake? Oh that cake! I’ve been constipated lately and that was for my special needs. What the hell you doing stealing my property. Judge would laugh them out of court…not to mention the hayday the media would have with them.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:47pmThe cake shown has 1/4 missing . Maltese said 1/3 gone. I would have consumed all the evidence. If I had a quart of milk. Merry Christmas
Report Post »Brooke Lorren
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 3:08pmStock photo.
Report Post »bigfatslob
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:46pmTSA consists of the low life security screeners prior to 911. They are NOT up to the same standards as real law enforcement in order to keep a high percentage of overly pigmented personnell. This is what you get , along with all of the other horror stories.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:44pmI see the up cakes were not enough 4 this bunch
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 1:44pmHe had to have something to wash down his cupcake…
Report Post »