With security charge dropped, ex-suspect grateful for friends

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

Randy Rustick was with his wife and four children on his way to visit his mother on Kaua'i for Christmas vacation Dec. 21 when screeners at Honolulu International Airport found a 3-inch razorblade hidden in his shoe.

Rustick was arrested and found himself at the federal detention center.

He says he saw Transportation Security Administration officials on TV congratulating themselves. Then he realized they were talking about him.

On Monday, federal prosecutors dropped a charge accusing him of concealing a dangerous weapon. The charge carried a prison term of up to 10 years.

Rustick, who works for a computer technology company in Virginia, told reporters yesterday that he wanted to thank his wife, Mary, his family and his friends for their support.

He says the night in jail before his release on a $10,000 signature bond was one of the most frightening in his life. He says he later passed an FBI polygraph test and although he knew he had been telling the truth, it was harrowing because if anything went wrong, "I lose my wife ... my children ... everything that we've been working for."

Still a mystery is how the blade got into the shoe.

"If I had any idea how the blade got in there, it wouldn't be in there," he says.

Mary Rustick recalls that she bought the shoes two years ago, but doesn't recall from where.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.