The Department of Justice charged four American flight attendants with abusing their status as airline employees to smuggle drug money to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.
The DOJ said all four suspects worked for different airlines but had for years used a special status with the Transportation Safety Administration to evade normal security procedures in order to smuggle drug money out of New York.
The scheme reportedly began three years ago and the arrests were made with the help of two cooperating witnesses who were not named.
Charlie Hernandez, Sarah Valerio Pujols, Emmanuel Torres and Carol Fabio were all arrested on one count each of operation of an unlicensed money transmission business and one count each of entering an airport or aircraft area in violation of security requirements.
Pujols and Hernandez were also slapped with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business charges while Pujols faced a separate charge of bulk cash smuggling.
Each of the charges carries a maximum sentence of either five or 10 years in federal prison.
In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said the suspects abused a system that allows airline employees to board flights without the hassle of standard security.
The release stated: “All of the defendants had ‘Known Crewmember’ (‘KCM’) status with the Transportation Security Administration, which allowed them to pass through a special security lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport and other airports with less scrutiny than normal passengers.”
The U.S. attorney’s office said the four suspects smuggled a combined $8 million to the Dominican Republic over a three-year period.
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Additionally, the attorney’s office noted that at least some of the cash originated from illicit fentanyl sales.
The cash had allegedly been laundered in New York City before it was transported out of the country, the federal government said.
The airlines the suspects were employed by were not named in the release.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement the arrests of the four flight attendants are proof of the old adage that “crime doesn’t pay.”
“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,” Williams said.
He added, “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.”
The alleged scheme was uncovered in a joint effort by the New York City Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.
HSI Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo said the arrests should be interpreted as a “warning” to other airline employees.
“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,” Arvelo said.
