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Four flight attendants have been arrested and charged in connection with a “years-long” scheme to smuggle millions of dollars worth of drug money from New York City to the Caribbean.
The US Attorney’s office estimated that the defendants smuggled approximately $8m in “bulk cash” from the US to the Dominican Republic over a period of many years. Charlie Hernandez, 42, Sarah Valerio Pujols, 42, Emmanuel Torres, 34, and Jarol Fabio, 35, were arrested on Wednesday.
They are each charged with one count of operation of an unlicensed money transmission business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of entering an airport or aircraft area in violation of security requirements, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
According to prosecutors the defendants knowingly smuggled large amounts of illicit money linked to the sale of narcotics, including fentanyl, from the US and took advantage of airport security checkpoints by using their “trusted positions as flight attendants” at the John F Kennedy International Airport, in New York.
“This investigation has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the airline security industry and has illuminated methods that narcotics traffickers are utilizing,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Ivan Arvelo.
“Today’s announcement should serve as a warning to all airline personnel: HSI New York will not tolerate employees’ attempts to abuse their power for the sake of transporting illicit goods.”
All four of the defendants worked as flight attendants for different international airlines that operate between New York and the Dominican Republic. Each was a “Known Crewmember” with TSA that allowed them to pass through security checks with less scrutiny, prosecutors said.
The investigation noted the help of a cooperating witness, who told law enforcement about the methods which were used in the significant money laundering operation at the airports.
The methods included corrupting flight attendants, like the defendants, who worked routes between New York City and the Dominican Republic, the witness said.
In exchange for a fee – which generally amounted to a small percentage of the amount of money that they would be smuggling – the defendants allegedly accepted bulk cash from members of the operation in New York, got it past airport security via the special security lane, and passed it off to other members of the operation in the Dominican Republic.
US Attorney Damian Williams 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.
“Today’s charges should serve as a reminder to those who break the law by helping drug traffickers move their money that crime doesn’t pay.”
