Three security screeners at San Francisco International Airport were recently arrested on charges of defrauding the government and smuggling cocaine through SFO.
The Department of Justice said 35-year old Joseph Scott, 32-year-old Michael Castaneda, and 27-year-old Jessica Scott allowed undercover agents at SFO to pass through security checkpoints with real and fake drugs. According to the DoJ, the trio worked for Covenant Aviation Security, a private security that contracts with the Transportation Security Administration to provide addition security at SFO.
The indictment alleges that the three defendants conspired to use their positions as Transportation Security Officers to allow passengers to smuggle real and simulated cocaine through airport security checkpoints. The defendants all were assigned to SFO. The defendants arranged for passengers carrying narcotics in their carry-on luggage to pass through the x-ray machine at a security checkpoint line without adequately screening the luggage for explosives, incendiaries, weapons, or other threats to security. Through the use of confidential sources and undercover agents, law enforcement discovered that defendants made these arrangements for a fee on five occasions between May 2013 and April 2014.
Further proof that the TSA is a joke. 3 officers arrested for smuggling cocaine through SFO: https://t.co/g7A8RPEqwC
— N Anderson (@N_J_Anderson) November 12, 2015
The defendant operating or overseeing the x-ray machine either knew the carry-on baggage contained narcotics, viewed images that suggested the need for secondary inspection, or both. Nevertheless, in each instance, the defendant responsible for the x-ray machine failed to call for a secondary screening of the baggage or alert law enforcement or a supervisor to the presence of suspected narcotics.
Although, the evidence was collected last year, the indictment was unsealed on November 5, 2015, after all three defendants were arrested and appeared before US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler.
TSA keeping us safe: SFO Security Screeners Busted For Cocaine Smuggling Ring https://t.co/RNJSWaKcnE
— Michael Lasley (@michaellasley) November 8, 2015
If convicted, the defendants could face a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum fine of $250,000 (for defrauding the TSA by obstructing a lawful government function) and a minimum of ten years, a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and a maximum fine of $10 million (for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine).
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