🚀 go-pugleaf

Four current and former Transportation Security Administration 
screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes 
and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, 
methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at 
Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced 
Wednesday.

The TSA screeners, who were arrested Tuesday night and Wednesday 
morning, allegedly received up to $2,400 in cash bribes in 
exchange for allowing large drug shipments to pass through 
checkpoints in what the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles called a 
�significant breakdown� of security.

In addition to the two current and two former screeners, 
prosecutors also indicted two alleged drug couriers and a third 
who allegedly tried to smuggle 11 pounds of cocaine but was 
nabbed when he went through the wrong security checkpoint.

The TSA employees �placed greed above the nation�s security 
needs,� Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. attorney for the Central 
District of California, said in a statement.

The 40-page indictment outlines five alleged smuggling incidents 
over a six-month period last year. In one incident, screeners 
schemed to allow for about eight pounds of methamphetamine to 
pass through security, then went to an airport restroom where he 
was handed $600, the second half of the payment for that 
delivery, according to prosecutors.

Briane Grey, acting special agent in charge of the DEA in Los 
Angeles, said the scheme was particularly reprehensible because 
it took place at LAX.

�The defendants traded on their positions at one the world�s 
most crucial airport security checkpoints, used their special 
access for criminal ends, and compromised the safety and 
security of their fellow citizens for their own profit,� he said 
in a statement.

The indicted screeners are Naral Richardson, 30, and Joy White, 
27, who were both fired by TSA last year; and John Whitfield, 
23, and Capeline McKinney, 25, both currently employed as 
screeners. All four have been taken into custody, and face up to 
life in prison if convicted.

The accused drug couriers are Duane Eleby, 28, who is expected 
to surrender, and Terry Cunningham and Stephen Bayliss, both 28, 
who are both at large.

The TSA�s security director at LAX said the agency was assisting 
with the investigation. �While these arrests are a 
disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the 
highest standards,� Randy Parsons said in a statement.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/tsa-screeners-drug-
arrest.html