Four flight attendants have been charged in connection with an alleged scheme to smuggle drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic, authorities announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York alleged in two unsealed complaints that Charlie Hernandez, Sarah Valerio Pujols, Emmanuel Torres and Jarol Fabio participated in a years-long scheme to smuggle large amounts of cash obtained from drug sales into name of traffickers. United States to Dominican Republic.
The four flight attendants worked for major international airlines and were flying from the United States to the Dominican Republic and, according to prosecutors, knew they were transporting drug money.
The flight attendants used their “Known Crewmember” status, a program that allows airline employees to go through security with “personal property” and go through security with large amounts of cash, they said. The prosecutors.
Two flight attendants met with a confidential informant, who had been working with the Department of Homeland Security, who gave them $60,000 to take them to the Dominican Republic, according to the indictment. The other two flight attendants received approximately $121,215 in drug proceeds from a confidential informant, the complaint alleges. Those funds were split with another flight attendant to take to the Dominican Republic, according to prosecutors.
“This investigation has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the airline security industry and illuminated the methods that drug traffickers are using,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo said in a statement.
Authorities did not clarify whether there was an increase in drug smuggling or drug profits by airline employees. However, in recent years, several airline employees have been charged and convicted of using their status as trusted employees to smuggle cash and drugs through airports and airplanes.
An American Airlines mechanic was convicted last year for attempting to smuggle 25 pounds of cocaine under the cabin of a plane from New York to Jamaica. A flight attendant in Dallas pleaded guilty in 2022 to smuggle fentanyl taped to his stomach on a flight from Fort Worth to San Francisco.