Baggage Handler Charged With Stealing Freshly Printed Money At PHL
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A US Airways baggage handler from southwest Philadelphia is facing federal theft charges for allegedly taking two stacks of brand new $100 bills totaling $20,000 from a plane that was unloaded at Philadelphia International Airport nearly two weeks ago.
Federal authorities say Alex Price, 25, was initially questioned by investigators on October 11, the day the cash went missing after it was loaded into an armored truck from a US Airways flight at Philadelphia International.
When the truck got to its destination at the Federal Reserve in East Rutherford, N.J. that afternoon, guards reported one of the packages was torn open and $20,000 was missing.
The FBI says Price insisted he didn't steal any of the $100 bills totaling $3.2 million dollars from the packages.
According to court documents, Price submitted to a polygraph with an FBI examiner at the agency's downtown Philadelphia headquarters on Tuesday and at the end of the questioning confessed he stole the cash.
Investigators say Price led them to his home in the Kingsessing neighborhood where he admitted the cash was hidden in one of his cars. Agents found the money inside a blue, drawstring bag stored inside the car.