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- 4 flight attendants smuggled drug money from New York to the Dominican Republic, prosecutors said.
- The attendants, who held 'Known Crewmember' status, used a special security lane.
- Prosecutors said they transported about $8 million in cash, receiving a fee in return.
Four flight attendants have been charged in connection with a yearslong scheme to smuggle "millions of dollars of drug money" from New York to the Dominican Republic on commercial flights, federal authorities said Wednesday.
The flight attendants — Charlie Hernandez, 42; Sarah Valerio Pujols, 24; Emmanuel Torres, 34; and Jarol Fabio, 35 — were all arrested on Tuesday on various charges, including the operation of an unlicensed money transmission business.
According to a pair of federal indictments unsealed by the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, all of the defendants held "Known Crewmember" status with the Transportation Security Administration.
Using this status, they could access a special security lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport without undergoing typical passenger screening procedures.
"Flight attendants are ideal for smuggling bulk cash" for this reason, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote in the indictments.
By "abusing their privileges as airline employees," the flight attendants managed to transport about $8 million in "bulk cash" from the US to the Dominican Republic over several years, US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
The indictments said the smuggling occurred from at least 2014 until as late as 2023.
Hernandez was accused of smuggling at least $2.5 million in narcotics proceeds from the US to the Dominican Republic, while Pujols, Torres, and Fabio were each accused of having smuggled narcotics proceeds, or cash they understood to be narcotics proceeds, worth at least $1.5 million.
In one of the indictment documents, an HSI special agent outlined sting operations in which a cooperating witness provided $60,000 in government funds to Fabio in 2023 and Torres in 2022.
The pair believed the money was the proceeds of narcotics trafficking and needed to be transported, according to the indictment.
In separate incidents, a year apart, Torres and Fabio met another informant in the Dominican Republic to deliver the cash, which was then returned to law enforcement, prosecutors said.
The interactions were recorded.
In December 2019, an informant gave Hernandez $121,215 in cash, of which $61,215 was handed over to Pujols.
Pujols was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents at JFK.
The special agent said in the indictment that Pujols claimed to have about $1,000 on her, but agents found about $60,000 in three bundles concealed in her purse. She was fired from her job, according to the indictment.
Delta Airlines confirmed to NBC News that two defendants worked for them.
In a statement provided to Business Insider, a Delta spokesperson said: "Delta has cooperated fully with law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to do so."
It's unclear which airlines the other two defendants worked for.
Legal representatives for Fabio and Torres did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment. The other defendants' attorneys were not listed on court documents.
In the statement announcing the unsealing of the indictments, HSI Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo said the defendants "took advantage of airport security checkpoints by using their trusted positions as flight attendants."
He said the investigation "exposed critical vulnerabilities in the airline security industry" and has "illuminated methods that narcotics traffickers are utilizing."