Michael Alan Crooker, 64, of Southwick, has waged a battle to get himself removed from the federal terrorist 'No Fly List' and regain his job as an airport shuttle driver. Watch video
SPRINGFIELD -- A Southwick man with a long criminal record continued his epic battle to get himself removed from the federal terrorist "No Fly List" in U.S. District Court Thursday.
Judge William G. Young heard arguments from government attorneys and Michael Alan Crooker, who is representing himself in a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
The federal lawsuit filed in Massachusetts is the third Crooker has leveled in connection with his firing from a private airport shuttle company in September.
He also has filed suit in Hampden Superior Court and Connecticut federal court after his ouster from the grounds of Bradley International Airport, allegedly on orders from an airport security administrator. The legal complaints have been added to the stockpile of lawsuits Crooker has filed over the years -- typically from behind bars -- with a fair record of success.
On Thursday, Crooker complained to Young that he has been unable to persuade an attorney to take on his case pro bono.
"I got a GED, that's my education," Crooker said. "I can write a few things, but I'm not a lawyer."
"I understand, but you seem to be doing pretty well," Young responded.
Crooker, 64, was released from prison in 2017 after serving more than 12 years for a firearms conviction that was later overturned, then pleading guilty to threatening a federal prosecutor and possessing materials to make ricin, a powerful toxin.
In his complaint against the three government agencies, Crooker argues the materials were natural and relatively benign.
"The toxin was less than five grams of castor seed powder which contains 3% of a naturally occurring toxin, which if ingested in its totality could not have killed a single person," Crooker said in his lawsuit.
Crooker filed the suit because he was fired after 11 weeks on the job with a private airport shuttle company. He was hired by LAZ Fly outside Bradley International Airport in July with the blessing of U.S. Probation and a TSA official, according to court filings.
However, when Senior Director of Airport Security James Campbell, of the Connecticut Airport Authority, got wind of Crooker's role as a curbside shuttle driver, Crooker was banned from the property and subsequently fired, he says.
Campbell placed fliers throughout the airport with Crooker's photo attached, advising employees to call 911 if they saw Crooker on the grounds of the airport, according to court filings.
Crooker's argument is threefold: first, he never stepped foot in secure areas of the airport; second, Campbell was not authorized to tell his private employer about his spot on the FBI's watch list; and lastly, he doesn't belong on the list, anyway.
Plus, Crooker argued, he now feels he missed his calling.
"It's the only job I've ever liked in my whole life. I get satisfaction helping old ladies carry their luggage," he told Young.
To further complicate the issue, government attorneys will not even confirm whether Crooker is on the "No Fly" list, per their security protocols. So the arguments are circular and theoretical.
"I asked you for a quick and dirty result and you said 'No, we're not going to bend any of our procedures'," Young said to government attorneys, before asking both sides to brief whether the government security standards can be tested if Crooker has never even attempted to board a plane.
Crooker also has argued that since the "No Fly List" is intended to apply to travel bans, it was misused against him.
Each side has 30 days to submit a brief to Young.
Crooker made light of his long history with federal law enforcement officials as he was leaving the courtroom.
"Hey, this is weird! You're not bringing me back to jail," he told Deputy U.S. Marshal Daniel Spellacy.