Four flight attendants abused “their privileges as airline employees” and smuggled “millions of dollars of drug money” out of New York City to the Dominican Republic, federal authorities said Wednesday.
The suspects had access to the “Known Crewmember (KCM)” lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, giving them fast and X-ray-free passage through security, authorities said.
“In effect, given these loosened security procedures, KCM privileges allow flight attendants to bypass airport security with large quantities of cash without that cash being seized,” a Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote in a complaint.
Charlie Hernandez, 42; Sarah Valerio Pujols, 24; Emmanuel Torres, 34; and Jarol Fabio, 35, all face various charges connected to “unlicensed money transmission,” prosecutors said. They were arrested Tuesday, a Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson said.
Hernandez lives in West New York, New Jersey, while the other three defendants live in New York City, officials said.
They are accused of smuggling about $8 million in total in “bulk cash” to the Dominican Republic, prosecutors said.
“As alleged, these flight attendants smuggled millions of dollars of drug money and law enforcement funds that they thought was drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic over many years by abusing their privileges as airline employees,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
An informant gave Hernandez $121,215 — funds “derived from narcotics trafficking” — and he then gave Pujols $61,215 of it for them to take to the Dominican Republic in December 2019, according to the complaint.
Torres is accused of smuggling at least $1.5 million in drug money to the Dominican Republic from 2015 to 2022, the complaint says. Fabio sneaked out $1.5 million from 2015 to 2023, federal authorities alleged.
Delta Airlines confirmed that two of the defendants work for it.
“Delta has cooperated fully with law enforcement in this investigation and will continue to do so,” it said in a statement.
An attorney for Pujols said her client is no longer in custody but would not comment further.
