Category: In The News

Four flight attendants abused “their privileges as airline employees” and smuggled “millions of dollars of drug money” out of New York City to the Dominican Republic, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The suspects had access to the “Known Crewmember (KCM)” lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, giving them fast and X-ray-free passage through security, authorities said.

“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, all face various charges connected to “unlicensed money transmission,” prosecutors said. They were arrested Tuesday, a Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson said.

Hernandez lives in West New York, New Jersey, while the other three defendants live in New York City, officials said.

They are accused of smuggling about $8 million in total in “bulk cash” to the Dominican Republic, prosecutors said. 

“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.

An informant gave Hernandez $121,215 — funds “derived from narcotics trafficking” — and he then gave Pujols $61,215 of it for them to take to the Dominican Republic in December 2019, according to the complaint.

Torres is accused of smuggling at least $1.5 million in drug money to the Dominican Republic from 2015 to 2022, the complaint says. Fabio sneaked out $1.5 million from 2015 to 2023, federal authorities alleged.

Delta Airlines confirmed that two of the defendants work for it.

“Delta has cooperated fully with law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to do so,” it said in a statement.

An attorney for Pujols said her client is no longer in custody but would not comment further.

A lawyer for Fabio could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. No attorneys were immediately listed in court records for Hernandez and Torres.

Credit: NBC News

MINNEAPOLIS — A security screening at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Thursday prevented an airline employee from bringing a handgun further into the facility.

The Transportation Security Administration said the employee was randomly selected for screening and a TSA officer spotted the handgun during an X-ray. MSP Airport police responded and discovered the gun was loaded.

“Firearms should never be brought to the security checkpoint in carry-on luggage, and airline employees should certainly be aware of that,” TSA Federal Security Director for Minnesota Marty Robinson said.

SkyWest Airlines confirmed Tuesday evening that it was one of their employees, and they are “conducting an internal review of the incident.”

Forty-nine guns have been detected at MSP so far in 2023, the TSA said, which is nine short of last year’s total.

According to the TSA, travelers can bring firearms in checked baggage if they are “unloaded, packed separately from ammunition in a locked hardback case and declared at the airline check-in counter.”

The penalty for a firearm violation at an airport can be as much as a $14,950 fine.

Credit: CBS News

An on-duty flight attendant who was making her way to work a flight out of Philadelphia International Airport on Friday ended up being arrested after she was caught trying to take a loaded handgun through the TSA security checkpoint.

The 23-year-old flight attendant now faces firearms charges under Pennsylvania state law and a potential federal financial penalty for carrying the gun through an airport checkpoint.

Kiala Santa Cruz also faces the possibility of being terminated from her airline. Neither the TSA nor the Philadephia Police Department revealed which airline Cruz works for, although her police mugshot appears to show her wearing an American Airlines uniform.

American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Police say Kiala was stopped as she passed through the Terminal C checkpoint when a TSA agent flagged her luggage for further inspection. A loaded .380 caliber Ruger semiautomatic handgun was found in her purse.

The gun had five rounds in the magazine but no rounds in the chamber.

“We are always on the alert for any possible insider threats,” commented Gerardo Spero, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport.

The arrest comes just two weeks after an airport concession worker was stopped trying to take a loaded handgun into the secure airside area of the airport. The worker claimed he forgot the gun was in his bag.

“Flight attendants and workers inside the terminal have insider knowledge and access to areas of the airport and aircraft that could pose a serious security threat,” Spero continued.

“These are excellent examples of why it remains important that airline employees and individuals who work in airports need to be screened before gaining access to secure areas of the airport.”

Aircrew can often skip most security screening at US airports as part of the ‘Known Crewmember’ initiative, but the TSA has ramped up random additional checks after a spate of incidents in which pilots and flight attendants have attempted to smuggle forbidden items through KCM access points.

Last year, a flight attendant attempted to smuggle 3.33 pounds of fentanyl through a KCM access point at San Diego Airport, but she was flagged for random additional screening, and the package was discovered when she passed through the metal detector arch.

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) issued an urgent circular earlier this year warning crew members not to break KCM rules and to be particularly mindful of not accidentally trying to take a firearm through the security checkpoint.

In some cases, the union warned that flight attendants had managed to leave the United States on international trips with a firearm in their luggage only for it to then be discovered as they went to return to the US resulting in hefty fines and even imprisonment.

Credit: PYOK