You would think that flight attendants, of all people, would know that smuggling money into a foreign country isn’t a smart idea. Apparently not.
Four
flight attendants have been accused
of smuggling millions of dollars of drug money out of New York City to the
Dominican Republic.
They
allegedly did it by taking advantage of their situation.
The
flight attendants were each considered a "Known Crewmember (KCM)"
at John F. Kennedy International Airport, meaning they could pass
through security and bypass the X-ray machine. Therefore, large amounts of
money go undetected.
"In effect, given these
loosened security procedures, KCM privileges allow flight attendants to bypass
airport security with large quantities of cash without that cash being
seized," a Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote in a complaint.
Charlie Hernandez, 42; Sarah
Valerio Pujols, 24; Emmanuel Torres, 34; and Jarol Fabio, 35, were all
arrested. They are accused of smuggling about $8 million in total.
"As alleged, these
flight attendants smuggled millions of dollars of drug money and law
enforcement funds that they thought was drug money from the United States to
the Dominican Republic over many years by abusing their privileges as airline
employees," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
At one point, two of the
accused were given more than $182,000 as part of a sting operation. At least two of the
defendants worked for Delta Air Lines.
“Delta has cooperated fully
with law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to do so," it
said in a statement.
It’s not
the first time an airline or airport worker has been accused of a drug-related
crime.
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