Ex-LAX Police Officer To Be Sentenced For Sexual Battery Of Female Traveler

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former Los Angeles World Airports police officer was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for sexually battering a woman as she waited to board a flight.

Michael Wayne Staunton, 56, was also ordered to register as a sex offender, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Staunton was convicted Nov. 18, of one count each of assault by a police officer, sexual battery by restraint and false imprisonment by fraud involving the April 12, 2011 assault while he was on duty at Los Angeles International Airport.

Staunton had been stationed at a police podium just inside the screening area for departing passengers when he first approached the 25-year-old woman and made a sexual comment, prosecutors said. He later returned and motioned for the woman to follow him.

Staunton used his security access card to take the woman to a storage area, where he assaulted her before walking her back to the departure area, according to the District Attorney's Office.

The woman reported what happened to her friends, who contacted the Los Angeles Police Department and filed a report.

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