After a device was left behind on a flight to NYC, the airline has responded to the disturbing claims
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Delta Air Lines is facing a lawsuit after a man allegedly took an iPad left behind by a child and used it to record explicit videos of himself, according to legal claims.
The iPad, which was kept in a case decorated with the popular children’s character Peppa Pig, was accidentally left behind in July 2023 by the child of Tory and Brooke Brewer during their travels from South Carolina.
Following the disappearance, the device was reportedly used to film pornographic videos. Those clips later appeared in the family's iCloud account, as stated in a lawsuit filed against the airline.
On July 16, the Brewers officially filed a lawsuit in a US district court in Charleston. They are seeking damages on the grounds of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and harassment.
"What should have been a fun family getaway was riddled with confusion and anxiety over unauthorised access to their personal devices, a breach of privacy, and the transmission of highly inappropriate, explicit video recordings sent through their child's personal devices, something they never would have expected," said a statement released by the Brewers’ attorney, Tola Familoni, who represents them through the Motley Rice law firm.
Familoni also mentioned that the Brewers want to 'hold Delta accountable' for what they say was a failure to take their complaints seriously before legal action was taken. They hope this lawsuit helps prevent other families from going through something similar while flying with US airlines.
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Delta later issued a response, explaining that the person accused of taking the iPad wasn’t actually a Delta employee but worked for one of the vendor companies they contract with. The individual hasn’t been publicly named.
In its statement, Delta added that it has 'zero tolerance for unlawful behavior of any kind but will decline to comment further on this pending litigation'.
The incident began on July 19, 2023, when the Brewers and their children boarded a Delta flight from Charleston to JFK Airport in New York City. They later caught a connecting flight to London, only to realise after they had landed that one of their kids had forgotten the family’s Apple iPad on board.
The missing iPad came to their attention when the child's mother started getting unusual text notifications connected to the device.
The lawsuit claims she used the Find My app by Apple to check the iPad’s location, which revealed it had been left behind in New York.
She also stated that the person who took the tablet had logged her out of her account. However, the new photos and videos were still being uploaded to the family’s iCloud, which is how they discovered what had happened.
Delta said the employee was from a vendor company
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About a month later, the lawsuit says a video appeared showing the man masturbating while wearing a work uniform with his name tag clearly visible. A second explicit video showed up just a few days after the first.
According to the legal filing, the individual didn’t just stop there. He allegedly accessed an iTunes account, made his own personal profile, and even used the iPad to try hacking into the Brewers’ Amazon account.
"We would have hoped, if not publicly, at least personally they would have acknowledged their role and responsibility for what happened to this family," Familoni said in a recent interview, calling out Delta’s failure to respond adequately.
Familoni explained that the Brewers decided to take legal action only after Delta, in their view, failed to properly address the situation.
"We hope that Delta will step up and take responsibility, speak to the family, and acknowledge their wrongdoing," the lawyer added.