Prosecutors: Flight Attendant Ran From Security After Trying To Sneak Cocaine
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A JetBlue flight attendant was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday, after she allegedly left behind nearly 70 pounds of cocaine and ran from airport security in Los Angeles.
Marsha Gay Reynolds, 31, of Jamaica, Queens, surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday at JFK, according to U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek.
Transportation Security Administration officials asked Reynolds to step aside for a random security screening Friday, authorities said. 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, Marshall McClain, president of the union representing LAX airport police officers, said Monday.
Reynolds was charged with cocaine possession with intent to distribute. She was expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday.
Mrozek said prosecutors believe reports that Reynolds was a runner-up in Miss Jamaica World 2008 are true. NYU lists a Marsha-Gay Reynolds as having been on the school's 2004 women's track and field team, though it wasn't immediately clear if that was the same Reynolds arrested Wednesday.
On Friday, Reynolds arrived at an LAX checkpoint in Terminal 4 wearing jeans, heels and a black suit jacket, carrying her ``known crew member badge,'' according to an FBI affidavit in support of the charge against Reynolds.
When Reynolds was chosen for a random security screening, TSA Officer Jamie Samuel said the flight attendant became nervous and began looking around before pulling out her cellphone and making a call, according to the affidavit.
Samuel reported that Reynolds was talking on the phone in a foreign language as she was being taken to a secondary screening area, the affidavit says.
Once in the secondary screening area, TSA Officer Charles James asked for her identification.
``At this time, Reynolds dropped her carry-on luggage, removed her shoes and began to run away,'' according to the affidavit.
James saw Reynolds run down an upward-moving escalator and out of the terminal, the affidavit says, adding that the officer didn't pursue her because her abandoned luggage was his main concern.
LAX police soon after found 11 packages of cocaine wrapped in green cellophane and labeled, ``BIG Ranch'' inside one of the bags Reynolds had left behind, the affidavit says.
The cocaine weighed 68.49 pounds. Wholesale, the drugs would be worth about $750,000 in Los Angeles, said Special Agent Timothy Massino, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
On the streets of Los Angeles, Massino said the retail value of the cocaine could be as high as $3 million.
"Our nation's security depends on every individual with security clearances to honor the trust placed in them," said Eileen M. Decker, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. "The defendant's conduct violated that trust and, in the process, exposed the public to a major narcotics transaction and the dangers inherent to such a transaction. The intervention of the Transportation Security Administration and law enforcement ensured the safety of the passengers and staff at LAX."
Security threats from ``insiders,'' including airline and airport employees and workers hired by contractors, have been a focus of the TSA, particularly after the December 2014 arrest of several Delta Air Lines baggage handlers. Prosecutors allege they smuggled guns, including an AK-47, from Atlanta to New York.
The TSA has said that full screening of all employees would cost too much. Instead, the agency has urged airports to increase random screenings of workers and to keep background checks up to date.
``We will pay particular attention to the insider threat,'' TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told a Senate committee earlier this month.
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