DENVER -- Since Sept. 11, 2001, federal air marshals have been traveling on thousands of flights. Their job is to track suspected terrorists and deter anyone who might try to highjack a plane. But some marshals are concerned about what happened when one of their bosses was reported sleeping on a flight.

The concern is about the agent in charge of the Denver office, Tony Hedges. According to a former senior United flight attendant, Hedges, who was carrying a gun, was sleeping on a flight to Washington, D.C., which makes him vulnerable to being disarmed.

The flight attendant informed authorities, but federal officials never investigated.

Airline and federal sources say the incident occurred on an early-morning United flight in March 2004.

Hedges was sitting in a middle seat near the center of the plane. He was armed, but not working the flight.

Two other working air marshals were in the front of the plane. The head flight attendant on the plane noticed that Hedges was sleeping and went forward to tell the other marshals.

The e-mail sent by the head flight attendant said, "Since we require a visual of all (persons carrying firearms aboard) I purposely check on them during the flight. ... If (you're) carrying a firearm, shouldn't you be aware of the environment around you at all times?"

The senior flight attendant, part of the Attendant's Safety and Security Group, was so concerned about the issue that the attendant sent the e-mail to contacts at the Denver Air Marshal's Office.

Sources there told 7NEWS that the incident was reported to a supervisor, but apparently, it went no further.

Hedges called the incident "a cockamamy lie."

But later, a spokesman in Washington said the agency was not aware of the incident and said it will be fully investigated. The spokesman said any agent traveling with a gun on an airplane must be in control of the weapon at all times and said Hedges claimed that he was in control.

In any case, there was no investigation and this is an example of what many agents in Denver's air marshal's office claim is the double standard for managers and contributes to poor morale.

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