Summary Four flight attendants pleaded guilty to smuggling $8 million drug money through JFK. Homeland Security revealed vulnerabilities in airline security during the investigation. U.
S. Attorney committed to stopping drug proceeds, with maximum sentences up to five years. The four flight attendants who were caught smuggling drug money through John F.
Kennedy International Airport (JFK) have all pleaded guilty to the charges and now face considerable prison time. The case Over the last eight-year period, four flight attendants, Emmanuel Torres, 34, Jarol Fabio, 35, Sarah Valerio Pujols, 42, of New York, and Charlie Hernandez, 42, of West New York, New Jersey, smuggled nearly $8 million in drug money from New York’s JFK to the Dominican Republic using the TSA’s Known Crewmember (KCM) lane. Two of whom were employed with Delta Air Lines .
The flight attendants were caught thanks to a joint effort by the Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the New York Police Department. All four defendants were arrested on May 7th. In a statement , HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ivan J.
Arvelo said this about the arrest: “As alleged, the defendants knowingly smuggled large amounts of illicit money linked to the sale of narcotics, to include fentanyl, and took advantage of airport security checkpoints by using their trusted positions as flight attendants. This investigation has exposed critical vulnerabilities .