*Its not often that being nosey warrants a pat on the back, but this story makes it a viable exception. Although her identity is being preserved right now, a young Tacoima, Washington pre-school teacher is being applauded for what she did on a Southwest Airlines flight en route to San Jose.
The woman was sitting behind a man who was texting; and she peeked a bit longer than she probably would have normally. Turns out, it’s a good thing she did.
Thanks to unusually large font, and a large smartphone screen, the woman noticed that the man was texting disturbing messages. Messages that spoke of sexually molesting children. As it turns out, he was sending the texts to their daycare provider and was so busy doing so he didn’t even realize she was watching.
Once she realized what was happening, she even snapped a few pictures of his screen.
?It was in large font, and she sees certain words and starts contemplating there?s something bigger there,? San Jose sex-crimes detective Nick Jourdenais told the Mercury News. ?Then the conversation transitions to children. That?s the moment when she decided to preserve the evidence as best as she could.?
According to reports, the woman got the attention of a flight attendant who contacted the authorities. Police and FBI agents arrested 56-year-old Michael Kellar of Tacoma, Washington, in the airport terminal.
They used his phone to locate 50-year-old Gail Burnworth, who they also arrested. She had been carrying out Kellar’s sexual sickness on two children ages 5 and 7.
No confirmation on how the two adults know each other, but some reports say they were dating.
?It?s kind of mind-blowing,? Jourdenais said speaking of the incident and calling the preschool teacher a ‘hero.’
?She gets on a plane, a normal citizen minding her business. A couple of hours later, she?s intervening on quite possibly the most traumatic thing children can go through. This was life-altering for them,? he concludes.
