Wild moment Florida mother charged with CHILD TRAFFICKING at Ohio airport after traveling with her 4-year-old son on a Southwest flight

A ‘traumatized’ single mother has claimed Southwest Airlines accused her of child trafficking while she was still a child traveling with her four-year-old son Florida Unpleasant Ohio.

Video footage shows the moment Mary Bridgetta Tomarchio, 45, was confronted by two armed police officers at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on February 17 after receiving a suspicious report from “a pilot.”

Tomarchio told DailyMail.com that she at first thought the officers were joking, but quickly became terrified when they questioned her and asked for proof that she was his mother.

The brunette publicist said she is aware that she and her blonde son, Lucian Merk, look different and even dyed her locks lighter earlier this month so they would look more alike. The couple also have different last names, as he shares his father’s last name.

But the mother added that the incident was unacceptable and called on the industry to implement proper protocol.

She said: ‘The unfair accusation left me feeling humiliated and emotionally traumatized and highlights a problem pattern of discriminatory behavior towards single parents, especially those who do not have the same surname or physical appearance as their children.’

“It is unacceptable that today a single mother traveling with her child can be targeted and accused of such a heinous crime. based solely on unfounded suspicions without any protocol in place,” she added.

Tomarchio said she travels with her son at least once a month, sometimes twice, to visit the child’s father, who lives in Ohio.

The publicist and book coach is a member of Rapid Rewards and said she has “no idea why she was picked.”

She was approached by two agents at the Hertz car rental counter, who reported a call from a pilot who had expressed concerns. This was confirmed in the airport’s report.

Bodycam footage from the airport showed an officer asking Tomarchio. “So we just got a couple of calls. Is this your child?’

A stunned Tomarchio replied, “Yes!”

The officer continued, “I don’t know exactly what was going on, but the pilot was concerned about possible human trafficking” – to which the shocked mother responded, “What?”

He explained that they were merely responding to a call before asking for ID.

Tomarchio immediately began searching for documents she could show to prove the child was her son, but was unable to connect to the airport’s Wi-Fi to access an electronic copy of his birth certificate on Google Drive.

She then handed over their airline ttickets, medical and dental care cards with both names on them, a museum card and her own ID.

“I can show you the millions of pictures that are on my phone,” she added. “If you go on Instagram, you can look me up. I’m actually very famous and he’s all over my Instagram.”

The officers immediately retreated and said, “You’re okay. Sorry for the inconvenience’. They then wished her well and left.

Shortly afterwards, Tomarchio took to her Instagram page to upload an angry video detailing the ordeal she had just experienced for her 50,000-plus followers.

“No parent should have to go through this,” she said.

“I advocate for myself and all single parents against similar abuse in the future,” she added.

Many came to her defense, calling the incident “bizarre,” “super scary” and telling her that her call to action was “a great public service announcement for parents.”

Others offered advice, including keeping a copy of her son’s birth certificate with her at all times, receiving a letter from the child’s father stating he knew their son was traveling and filing a complaint with the airline.

Tomarchio is now calling on airlines to implement a protocol that includes a series of questions asked to passengers before police are called in cases of suspected child trafficking.

She said Southwest Airlines has tried to contact her, but she would not respond until she sought legal advice.

On Tuesday, she started a petition on change.org calling for all children to be required to carry a government-issued ID showing the names of both legal parents when traveling.

“This measure will not only protect children, but also reassure parents about the safety of their children during air travel,” she said.

“It will help airlines establish clear protocols around child passengers and ensure they travel with legitimate guardians or parents.”

A Southwest spokesperson denied that its employees were involved in the situation.

A statement from the airline said: “Calls to local authorities appeared to be placed by an individual or individuals not affiliated with Southwest Airlines. These are serious allegations and we appreciate the customer’s patience in allowing us to investigate these claims.”

This isn’t the first time Southwest has come under fire for accusing a mother of trafficking her own child.

Mary MacCarthy, who is white, was stopped by police officers at Denver International Airport while traveling with her mixed-race daughter Moira, now 12, to a funeral in October 2021.

The single mother, who works in tech and lives in Los Angeles, said she was questioned by two police officers on the jet bridge before she was eventually released.

She filmed the incident, with the video showing a Southwest staffer and two airport police explaining to MacCarthy why she had been pulled aside.

But the incident left her so shocked that she has now filed a lawsuit against the airline in Colorado for “blatant racism.”

In her lawsuit, the mother alleged that the child trafficking allegations came “for no other reason than the color of her daughter’s skin being different from her own.”

She added that the incident caused and is seeking “extreme emotional distress.” economic damages, compensatory damages, as well as punitive and exemplary damages.

MacCarthy told it Newsweek: ‘To this day, when Moira and I are in public – and especially in airports or on planes – I am hyper-aware that we can be judged and reported for every interaction we have with each other.’

“It’s a strange feeling to have to be alert to your most basic behavior toward your child, and it’s exhausting. As for Moira, she’s still holding on and doesn’t want to talk about what happened.’

MacCarthy’s attorney, David Lane, said the lawsuit was filed to ensure accountability and get the company to reexamine its training and policies.

He continued, “By using racial profiling to have Denver police stop innocent travelers, Southwest Airlines has attempted to seriously crack down on the criminal activity of sex trafficking through the use of a stereotypical, convenient formula.

“Just as police are not constitutionally permitted to stop and search young men of color on the basis of their race, neither should corporate America resort to such profiling to use law enforcement to stop racially diverse families and interrogate them simply based on their diverse races, and that’s what Southwest did.”

He told DailyMail.com: ‘We are currently in court investigating. The matter is in its early stages and we will continue to contact Southwest to see if they are interested in resolving this matter.”

aSouthwest said in a statement at the time that it was “disheartened to hear this mother’s story as she traveled with her daughter.”

“We are investigating the situation internally and we will contact the customer to address her concerns and apologize for her experience traveling with us,” a spokesperson added.