Passenger traces her lost luggage to home of airport worker, who is now charged with aggravated theft

(CNN) — A Florida man faces an aggravated robbery charge in Broward County after a brave airline passenger scheduled to fly out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in March traced her stolen luggage to the man’s home, according to the probable cause affidavit in the case.

Junior Geneus Bazile, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, was charged with grand larceny.

The victim was scheduled to leave the airport on a Spirit Airlines flight the night of March 3, but the airline cancelled the flight and told all passengers they could retrieve their checked luggage at the Terminal 4 baggage carousel, according to the affidavit.

Paola Garcia told CNN affiliate WPLG in Miami that she normally carries her bag on board, but this time she was told she had to check it. Garcia said she waited at least two hours for her pink wheeled bag, which contained an Apple MacBook, an Apple iPad, an Apple Watch, jewellery, high-end women’s clothing and toiletries. It never came out on the luggage belt.

In her interview with WPLG, Garcia said Spirit Airlines told her that her luggage had been sent to her home. The luggage never arrived. But Garcia explored another avenue with his own electronic tracker.

Garcia, whose name is not listed in the affidavit, then tracked the electronics inside the bag to try to locate them, and the tracker showed them at an address in Fort Lauderdale, according to the affidavit.

Tracing the luggage

He then went to get his things from the address, but was unable to contact anyone inside the house, according to the affidavit. While at the house, he took videos and photographs, where he saw ‘several pieces of luggage in the front of the house,’ none of which were his, according to the affidavit.

Garcia told WPLG that he called 911. ‘The first thing I remember the police saying to me is, ‘What are you doing here? It’s very dangerous for you to be here.’’

When a Broward County Sheriff’s Office detective looked up the address in airport employee databases, he discovered that Bazile reportedly lived at that address.

Bazile was listed as working at a Paradies Lagardère Travel Retail shop at the airport and worked the day of the robbery, according to the affidavit.

The shop’s loss prevention manager was contacted and provided the detective with internal CCTV footage from the day of the incident, which allegedly showed Bazile as he entered the shop’s stockroom with a pink wheeled suitcase, matching the description of the stolen suitcase, and rummaged through the luggage, according to the affidavit. He then appeared to remove the MacBook and other smaller items from the luggage and placed them in other bags.

A WPLG video shows footage of a man holding a plastic bag containing a pink suitcase and a laptop computer.

‘Paradies Lagardère takes this matter very seriously. Immediately after learning of the incident, this employee was dismissed. As this is an ongoing police matter, we are cooperating with the investigation and recommend contacting the Fort Lauderdale Police Department for further information,’ the company told CNN on Wednesday afternoon.

After being charged with grand larceny, Belize pleaded not guilty and posted US$30,000 bail. His next court date is scheduled for August 23, court records show.

CNN contacted Bazile and his public defender for comment.

In a statement, Spirit Airlines told CNN that while they are ‘not aware of any evidence that any Spirit employee was involved,’ the airline issued a refund check to the woman whose luggage was stolen, ‘as a courtesy.’