Thread: TSA seizes 70 pounds of cocaine from airline employee who reportedly kicked off her h

TSA seizes 70 pounds of cocaine from airline employee who reportedly kicked off her heels and ran

James Queally Contact Reporter

The sight of someone sprinting through one of Los Angeles International Airport’s sprawling terminals isn’t all that uncommon. As long as they’re running toward a flight, anyway.

But after she was selected for a random security screening Friday, a flight attendant kicked off her heels and sprinted in the opposite direction Friday night, barreling the wrong way up an escalator and leaving her bags behind.

Los Angeles Airport police officers tasked with searching the bags minutes later found out the woman had nearly 70 good reasons to run.

The woman, who has not been identified and remains on the run, was carrying roughly 70 pounds of cocaine, according to Marshall McClain, president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Assn. Airport and airline staff are not subject to security screenings every time they approach a checkpoint, a process McClain described as ripe for exploitation.

“Just like traveling passengers, airport and airline employees should undergo the same screening to help decrease the opportunities for these employees to commit crimes and to help eliminate ‘insider’ or ‘lone wolf’ criminal activity,” he said in a statement.

Timothy Massino, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles, said Monday that the Transportation Safety Administration referred the case to the DEA after the woman ran from the screening area. Massino declined to comment further.

The woman was seen running from the area after she was selected for the random screening by TSA agents, according to Massino. It was not immediately clear how she was able to flee the airport, although McClain said her seemingly easy escape highlighted the need to post an airport police officer at each security checkpoint, which used to be a common practice.

The TSA and the Los Angeles Airport Police Department referred all questions to the DEA. It was not clear what airline the woman worked for.

McClain said it was unlikely Friday was the woman’s first attempt at exploiting her security clearance.

“I don’t believe anybody would trust a mule with that amount of dope the first time out,” he said.

“You’re talking about $2-million worth of cocaine … that’s pretty troubling. This is more than likely not her first time doing this.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...321-story.html

we have a system when convict in international drugs smuggling a custom fine to pay which are very load in such case with an heavy sentence

Flight attendant who tried to sneak 70 pounds of cocaine at LAX arrested in New York, authorities say

James Queally and Richard Winton Contact Reporters

A flight attendant who fled from Los Angeles International Airport just minutes before police found a large stash of cocaine inside her carry-on luggage surrendered to authorities in New York City on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Marsha Gay Reynolds, who was last seen running away from a security checkpoint inside LAX's Terminal 4 on Friday, surrendered to agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday evening, according to Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles.

Reynolds flew from Los Angeles to New York City, where she resides, after running from authorities at LAX, according to law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

She is charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.

Eimiller said Reynolds was employed by Jet Blue. In a brief statement, the airline said it was cooperating with the FBI and the DEA but declined to comment further.

Reynolds, 32, will appear in federal court in New York City before she is returned to Los Angeles, Eimiller said.

Airport and airline staff aren't normally subject to security screenings at LAX, but Reynolds was selected at random for a screening last Friday. She became nervous, retrieved a cellphone and made a call in a foreign language at that time, according to the complaint.

Reynolds remained on the phone as she was being escorted to a second security area, and continued to walk further and further behind the TSA agent who was accompanying her, the complaint said.

Once they arrived at the screening area, Reynolds kicked off her heels, dropped her bags and ran away from the checkpoint, barreling the wrong way down an escalator as she sprinted toward Terminal 5, the complaint said.

TSA agents decided not to chase Reynolds because they were concerned her bags might contain explosives, according to the complaint.

After two separate dogs confirmed the bags did not contain bombs, an airport police officer opened her luggage and found eleven individually wrapped packages of cocaine, the complaint said.

Marshall McClain, president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Assn., said earlier this week that Reynolds' easy escape highlights the need to post airport police officers at each security checkpoint, which used to be a common practice.

He also said he doubted that the Friday incident was Reynolds’ first attempt at exploiting her security clearance.

“I don't believe anybody would trust a mule with that amount of dope the first time out,” he said.

“You're talking about $2 million worth of cocaine.... That's pretty troubling. This is more than likely not her first time doing this.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...323-story.html

Marsha Gay Reynolds in a Facebook photo

The Latest: Bail set for flight attendant in cocaine case

Published March 24, 2016 Associated Press

NEW YORK – The Latest on the arrest of a JetBlue flight attendant (all times local):

3:40 p.m.
A New York judge has set $500,000 bail and ordered home detention for a JetBlue flight attendant accused of trying to smuggle a suitcase full of cocaine through Los Angeles International Airport and making a dramatic dash to escape.

But Marsha Gay Reynolds will remain in custody at least until Friday. A federal magistrate judge in New York is giving federal prosecutors in Los Angeles 24 hours to appeal the bail decision before Reynolds can be released.

The 31-year-old Reynolds turned herself in Wednesday in New York.

Authorities say they found 70 pounds of cocaine in her luggage at LAX on March 18 after she was pulled aside for a random security screening. They say she then flung off her high heels and bolted barefoot out of the terminal.
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7:20 a.m.
Authorities say a JetBlue flight attendant accused of using her credentials to attempt to get 70 pounds of cocaine through airport security in Los Angeles before flinging off her heels and fleeing has been arrested in New York.

Federal officials say Marsha Gay Reynolds surrendered Wednesday to federal authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport, though it wasn't immediately clear how she reached New York.

Reynolds is a New York resident. She was expected to be in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday.

Authorities say Transportation Security Administration officials asked Reynolds to step aside for a random security screening last week. Reynolds went to a secondary screening area but quickly dropped her bag, ditched a pair of Gucci heels and fled barefoot downward on an upward-moving escalator.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/24...aine-case.html

Prosecutors declared her a "flight risk" and asked the judge to keep her in custody until she is moved to California to face drug charges that carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...d-girl-n544911