Ex-baggage handler gets prison in theft

A former baggage handler at McCarran International Airport was sentenced to more than five years in prison Wednesday for stealing weapons from checked luggage owned by a police officer and an airman.

Salvatore Lanzafame, 21, who worked for TGS Aviation Services, pleaded guilty in 2007 of stealing a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol from a Las Vegas police officer. Lanzafame sold the weapon to a 17-year-old South Dakota resident, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Lanzafame also stole a locked gun case belonging to a U.S. Air Force officer during the summer of 2007. A supervisor later found the case hidden under chairs in the Allegiant Air office, but two fully automatic rifles and two 9 mm pistols that were in the case were missing.

Lanzafame approached police officers investigating the theft at the airport and admitted that he took the weapons, according to the government. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro sentenced Lanzafame to 63 months in prison because of the number of weapons stolen and because Lanzafame sold at least one of them.