In the wake of revelations that Jeffrey Epstein used Teterboro Airport as the primary base of operations for his alleged sex trafficking network, in most cases eluding oversight by the government agencies that typically provide airport security, state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg sent a letter to the airport’s owner on Monday asking about rules and procedures at Teterboro to prevent illegal trafficking in drugs, guns or people.

News that Epstein, a billionaire who made his money as a financier, used Teterboro as home base for his fleet of private planes, and that he allegedly trafficked underage girls through the airport, was first reported last week by NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns Teterboro Airport. In her letter Weinberg, D–Teaneck, asked whether the authority’s Police Department, known as the PAPD, or any other agency has the power to regulate general aviation, a broad category of private flight that excludes commercial airlines.

“Does the PAPD or anyone else ensure that children are not being trafficked through the airport?” Weinberg said in her letter, which was addressed to Kevin J. O’Toole, the Port Authority's chairman. “And more broadly, is anyone responsible for ensuring weapons and illegal drugs are not being trafficked through Teterboro?”

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The Port Authority did not respond Monday to a request for comment. In a previous statement, a spokeswoman for the agency said the FAA, the TSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are primarily responsible for flight-related security at Teterboro. Jim Peters, a spokesman for the FAA, said this is incorrect.

“The FAA has no role in airport security,” Peters wrote in an email.

In the past, Weinberg has proven a powerful and effective critic of the Port Authority. She was co-chairwoman of the Legislature's investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal, which crippled the administration of then-Gov. Chris Christie. When traffic inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal ground to a halt in 2014, Weinberg was the loudest voice among a group of New Jersey elected officials whose calls for reform forced the agency to revamp operations.

Epstein’s planes flew through Teterboro at least 730 times between 1995 and 2013, according to flight logs kept by one of at least six pilots he employed. The logs were among 2,000 pages of documents produced in a lawsuit by one of Epstein’s alleged victims. On Aug. 10, one day after those documents were unsealed by a federal judge in Manhattan, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell at the Manhattan Correctional Center in New York City.

Epstein’s flights to and from Teterboro were unlike anything most travelers experience. Rather than wait in line for X-rays and body scans by TSA agents, Epstein would have driven through two security gates — without presenting identification of any kind — and would have been deposited near the door to his private jet, according to experts interviewed by NorthJersey.com who are familiar with fight operations at Teterboro.

Government scrutiny happens primarily on inbound international flights, where customs agents must inspect the passport of every passenger on a private plane. They may also search luggage.

Within the United States, however, security is purposefully lax. Regulators, as well as spokespeople for trade groups that lobby on behalf of general aviation industries, said getting into a private plane is no different from taking the wheel of a private car.

“At a general aviation airport, someone can essentially ‘hop in’ and fly around the country without any security requirements from TSA,” a spokeswoman for the federal agency said in an email.

Weinberg wonders whether that needs to change. Planes flying into Teterboro often pass within a few hundred feet of apartment towers along Prospect Avenue that sit atop a hill in Hackensack, which Weinberg represents.

“I don’t like to have to go through X-ray machines, and I’m not suggesting that all those things need to be implemented at Teterboro Airport,” Weinberg said. “But they’re in the middle of one of the most densely populated areas of the United States of America, and I believe a little inconvenience might be needed to protect people.”

Rules regarding situations in which minors travel with adults are similarly nonexistent. No government agency or employee is required to check for documents, including a letter of consent, which parents may sign to allow a spouse or another adult to travel with their children. Such documents may be required in other countries, but in the United States they are merely suggested, according to U.S. Customs. Weinberg said she wonders whether that makes sense.

“The fact that Jeffrey Epstein used this as a way to evade prying eyes — maybe we need a few more prying eyes around there,” she said.

Email: maag@northjersey.com

Editor's note: This story was updated on Aug. 28, 2019. An earlier version attributed the FAA's responsibility for security at Teterboro Airport to a Port Authority spokesperson. After publication, a spokesperson for the FAA said that agency had no role in airport security.