A Colorado woman says U.S. Transportation Security Administration agents groped her during a pat down performed on a day she was not flying.
Jamelyn Steenhoek, of Highlands Ranch, Colo., told CBS Denver the incident occurred as she was escorting her 13-year-old daughter to a flight at Denver International Airport on Dec. 26.
"They told me I tested positive for explosives," Steenhoek told the station, explaining it was probably because she'd pumped gas that day.
The mom says she was then taken to a private room and received a full pat down.
"[There was] lots of fingers and poking and grabbing, which is not what you see when you see a film of TSA agents searching women, when you see the flat hand, you see them running real quick lines around things to make sure there's nothing hidden," she told Fox News. "On the outside of my pants [the agent] cupped my crotch," Steenhoek told CBS Denver.
Steenhoek told Fox News she was patted down a total of three times.
The Denver Police Department has opened a sexual assault investigation into the incident, CBS Denver reports. TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein told The Huffington Post the TSA is also investigating.
"When a passenger alarms for explosive residue, TSA takes steps to resolve the alarm. Complaints about procedures are taken very seriously, thoroughly investigated, and appropriate action taken, if warranted," Feinstein told HuffPost via email. "TSA strives to provide the highest level of security while ensuring that all passengers are treated with dignity and respect. We work to make our screening procedures as minimally invasive as possible while providing the level of security that the American people want and deserve."
Steenhoek certainly isn't the first person to raise concerns about TSA practices that critics say go too far. The agency has come under fire in the past for allegedly touching a woman's genitals, detaining a 3-year-old in a wheelchair, and telling a 4-year-old boy on his way to Disney World to remove his leg braces.