Flight attendants indicted in scheme to smuggle drug money from U.S. to Dominican Republic

Four flight attendants have been charged in connection with an alleged scheme to smuggle drug money from the United States to the Dominican Republic, authorities announced Wednesday.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York alleged in two unsealed complaints that Charlie Hernandez, Sarah Valerio Pujols, Emmanuel Torres and Jarol Fabio participated in a years-long scheme to smuggle money from the sale of drugs on behalf of traffickers from the United States to the Dominican Republic.

The four flight attendants worked at major international airlines and were flying from the United States to the Dominican Republic and, prosecutors say, knew they were transporting drug money.

Flight attendants used their “known crew member” status, a program that allows airline employees to pass through security with “personal property”, or to pass through security with large sums of money money, prosecutors said.

Two flight attendants met with a confidential informant, who worked for the Department of Homeland Security, who gave them $60,000 to take to the Dominican Republic, the indictment says. The other two flight attendants received approximately $121,215 in drug profits from a confidential informant, according to the complaint. Those funds were shared with another flight attendant to get them to the Dominican Republic, according to prosecutors.

“This investigation revealed critical vulnerabilities in the aviation security industry and shed light on the methods used by narcotics traffickers,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo said in a statement.

Authorities have not said whether there has been an increase in airline employees dealing drugs or drug proceeds. However, in recent years, several airline employees have been charged and convicted for using their status as trusted employees to smuggle money and drugs through airports and onto planes.

An American Airlines mechanic was convicted last year for attempting to smuggle 25 pounds of cocaine under the cockpit of a plane from New York to Jamaica. A Dallas flight attendant pleaded guilty in 2022 to smuggling fentanyl taped to her stomach on a flight from Fort Worth to San Francisco.