With a good amount of its staff furloughed, the Transportation Security Agency wasn't able to catch a 9-year-old boy who boarded a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket.

“I’ve worked at the airport for 13 years, and we have more than 33 million people go through the terminal every year, and I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before,” Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Patrick Hogan told a reporter.

The boy made his way to the airport Thursday morning, went through security, and then boarded Delta Flight 1651 direct to Las Vegas. Crew members became suspicious mid flight when they realized they didn't have any unaccompanied minors on their passenger list.

“We’re investigating … and looking into our part to see what occurred and what didn’t occur,” said the TSA spokesperson.

What did occur was some serious deviance by the nine-year old: Before boarding a plane, he took a bag from a luggage carousel, and then ordered food at an airport restaurant. He told the server he had to use the bathroom after eating, and then never returned to pay the bill or pick up his stolen bag.

The boy's parents are being investigated by Child Protection Services.

[Shutterstock]