TV film crew busted with fake bomb at Newark Airport in attempt to test security

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Do any of you know on anyone on this production crew that got arrested?

TV film crew busted with fake bomb at Newark Airport in attempt to test security
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/tv-film-crew-busted-fake-bomb-newark-airport-article-1.3765467

A film crew linked to CNBC was arrested Thursday for trying to smuggle a fake bomb through a security checkpoint Newark International Airport, authorities said.

The seven-member team was grabbed by Port Authority cops at the New Jersey airport’s Terminal C at about 3 p.m. after the realistic-looking bomb was found in their carryon luggage. The suspects, who are part of a reality TV show called “Staten Island Hustle,” admitted that they wanted to record the Transportation Security Administration’s reactions when they found the “bomb,” sources with knowledge of the case said.

They also wanted to film the mass panic that they had hoped would ensue, sources said.
But the prank had the opposite effect. They were quickly arrested and their van was impounded and searched.​
 
Inciting riot is still a crime in this country, assuming that this was their goal.

I understand the investigative side of this to make sure the employees are doing what they are supposed to do. But the sensationalism is the part that has no place in what they were doing. Shooting in the airport without permission may also be against local laws, depends who owns the airport in question. I used to get thrown out of the local airport if the station hadn't called ahead to let them know we were coming and get permission. And this was with a live truck, not a covertly hidden camera.
 
They were not "testing" security(not that that would have excused it). They were pulling a stupid stunt for tv. Once that idea was uttered out-loud, it should have registered with anyone within earshot exactly how stupid it sounded. But I'm sure it went more like, "Oh hell yeah! That's brilliant! It will be EPIC!*".

I hope they add more charges to the list already mentioned in the article and they make an example out of them by putting them in prison for the maximum allowed time and hitting them with the maximum fine allowed by law, as well.



*Sidebar rant: Epic is the most incorrectly and overused word on the planet, today. I'm sick of seeing it daily in-print and hearing every reporter, anchor, etc. saying "Blah blah blah is EPIC" or "See this EPIC blah blah blah".
 
Could be a misunderstanding. A guy who says he was on the crew but in the van during the TSA event (and he's a mixer; totally believable that he was there) says the "bomb" was some sort of prototype for some product. He could be right. From a Googled-up description of the show reportedly behind the brouhaha:

"“Staten Island Hustle” follows a group of animated, life-long friends and businessmen from Staten Island who’ve yet to come up with an idea or product too far-fetched for them to invest in."

However, if the crew used hidden cameras or tried to film TSA's monitors, there could be issues:
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/frequently-asked-questions/can-i-film-and-take-photos-security-checkpoint

So don't know what happened and I'd guess everyone is in CYA mode, so we may never know the truth. But maybe this isn't as terrible and stupid as it first sounds.
 
Have these people never flown before? The TSA already gives harmless, law-abiding people a really hard time, so did they expect to pull the media card and got off scot-free?
 
Idiots! Understandable why the TSA agent on my last trip out of Atlanta insisted on taking every lens out of every case and putting them in the tub so they could roll around and bang into each other along with everything else from my bag she tossed around. We as a community of camera, sound etc. need to deal with idiots like these guys and they need to tell production to go buy a handi-cam and do it themselves.
 
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