Delta Airlines employee indicted for federal drug smuggling in Atlanta
In Atlanta, Georgia, two TSA security screeners and one Delta Airlines employee appeared in federal court yesterday after being indicted on drug charges. The charges are based on their alleged involvement in agreeing to help courier drugs on Delta flights from Atlanta to New York. The arrests, and the recent indictment, are the result of a undercover investigation by federal agents in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the story. So does the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The arraignment was also covered by the local Atlanta tv news media.
It appears the charges relate to an undercover operation by the DEA. A DEA agent convinced a TSA employee to help smuggle suitcases containing drugs through the security checkpoints and deliver them to a Delta employee. The Delta employee would then fly the suitcases to the undercover source in New York. The DEA apparently used fake drugs in the sting. According to the criminal complaint, the price for the delivery was $8,000 for two suitcases in the first deal. There were apparently two other transactions with the same DEA agent.
Apparently, this is not the first time Delta employees have been charged with smuggling drugs. Here is a story from the New York Times in 1997.
These are serious charges in federal court. Depending on the quantity of drugs involved, there may be mandatory minimum penalties of 10 years and up. Heavy fines are also a possibility. Losing their jobs is almost a certainty.
Defense lawyers for the defendants were able to secure bond for the three, and they are likely out of jail now and awaiting another court date. In federal court, at least in Atlanta, there is usually a pretrial conference shortly after the arraignment to determine if there are any substantive motions that need to be heard prior to trial. It is also a good opportunity for the defense attorneys to make sure they have all the evidence and other discovery materials that the government must provide pursuant to the federal criminal rules.
The fact that the government did not ask for detention for these defendants suggests that case may be resolved for something less than the mandatory minimum sentences. That usually happens only when the defendants cooperate with the government, or when they have no prior convictions and qualify for "safety valve" treatment under the federal sentencing guidelines.
Of course, that all assumes that the government can prove its case. As we have learned in several other federal cases, the facts are not always as they appear from reading a criminal complaint. But those facts do make interesting headlines. And blog topics.
