Terese White, 41, was meant to fly to Boston. As an alternative, she landed in police custody.
Last October, White was a Mesa Airlines flight attendant traveling from Dallas to San Diego. Between flights, she exited the SoCal airport and returned later that day to go from San Diego to Boston. As is the habit of flight attendants, in response to her plea agreement, White, a Dallas resident, “attempted to utilize the Known Crew Member queue” — a TSA security line that lets airline employees sail through with reduced screening.
“You have got a KCM card. You scan the cardboard, show your organization ID and driver’s license and walk throughout,” a former Mesa Airlines flight attendant told The Post. “But, sometimes, you get a ‘random.’ That’s if you find yourself randomly chosen to undergo the safety that everyone else goes through.”
Unfortunately for White, this was the day she was chosen.
She’s now awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to at least one account of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. White is just the most recent flight attendant to make use of what the US Attorney’s Office within the Southern District of California called “privileges as a flight attendant” as a tool for smuggling drugs.
Just like the title character of the Quentin Tarantino movie “Jackie Brown,” crooked flight attendants find frequent travel plus lax security a tempting combination. Paid off by drug dealers, a few of them turn their privilege right into a side hustle: acting as convenient mules to maneuver contraband around america.
“It stands to reason that this [smuggling by flight attendants] is often done,” attorney Dennis Ring, who represented convicted flight attendant Marsha Gay Reynolds, told The Post. “I’d think this is sort of common but they don’t get caught often.”
The random screenings, he identified, “are an unusual occurrence.”
The previous flight attendant source recalled an industry colleague who “used to go to Mexico and produce back Ritalin, Xanax and Adderall. She didn’t have prescriptions, she would come back with boxes and sell [the drugs] here.”
As recounted in america District Court grievance, White appeared hesitant to enter the the “advanced imaging technology machine” — the full-body scanner that travelers step into for low-energy X-ray. Once inside, as per the grievance, White began shaking.
She had good reason to be nervous. The machine quickly recognized something rigged to her mid-section.
Taken into a non-public room for screening, White removed what’s described as “a big mass wrapped round her abdomen” — but she insisted that it was “not what you’re thinking that.”
She told screeners that the fabric was a “mercury pack” designed for weight reduction. Los Angeles-based weight-loss physician Dr. Abe Malkin told The Post: “I’ve never heard of a ‘mercury pack’ for weight reduction. So far as I do know, it doesn’t exist.”
A test of the pack revealed the reality, though: The grievance alleges that White was attempting to smuggle and transport greater than three kilos of fentanyl.
In response to a press release from america Attorney’s Office, White pleaded guilty this past December and admitted that she “attempted to make use of her status as a flight attendant, a position of trust, to facilitate the offense.”
She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24. Her attorney didn’t return calls for comment. Mesa Airlines didn’t comment.
The previous flight attendant source attributed the unraveling of White’s drug smuggling scheme to bad luck and bad planning. “She probably would have avoided getting busted if not for the random. Also, if [the drug pack] was in her suitcase as an alternative being attached to her body, I don’t know that she would have gotten caught.”
What she does know is that fellow flight attendants are ticked off at White because her crime has screwed up a very good thing for the remainder of them.
“Everyone seems to be sort of annoyed. Going through KCM, [they’re] getting randomed on a regular basis now. One person ruins it for everyone else,” the source said. “Doing something like [what White did] is pretty f–king ballsy .. and f–king silly. You lose your job and the flexibility to see the world. I’d never risk doing that.”
Though White went quietly for her random screening, other airline employees are more brazen. Such was the case, no less than initially, with beauty queen turned JetBlue flight attendant Marsha Gay Reynolds. As The Post reported in 2016, when the then 34-year-old was stopped for screening at LAX in Los Angeles, she kicked off her Gucci heels, dropped her bags and bolted.
Inside her luggage: 70 kilos of cocaine, with a street value of $2 million.
In some way, Reynolds reportedly managed to board a flight to Recent York and, upon landing, hole up in a Hilton Hotel near JFK before turning herself in.
In response to the United Sates Department of Justice, Reynolds had been enlisted in her misdeeds by a Jamaican man named Gaston Brown. The DOJ stated that that the 2 had collaborated to smuggle illicit substances on six different occasions. Last yr, Brown was sentenced to 165 months in federal prison for charges that include two counts of conspiracy to own and distribute cocaine.
This past November, Delta flight attendant Marcelo Chaves and his boyfriend, were arrested while exiting a Brazil to Miami flight. In response to Miami’s channel 10 news, Robert Brisley of US Customs and Border Protection said that they were busted for “possession and transportation of narcotics.”
Aa per the report, the 2 were allegedly carrying drugs, including methamphetamine and ketamine, stored in plastic bottles. Chaves and his beau admitted to “doing drugs in Brazil” but expressed no knowledge of the illicit goods of their suitcase. They are actually contending with felony drug trafficking charges.
The lawyer for Chaves didn’t comment. A Delta spokesperson told The Post, “Delta continually cooperates with law enforcement entities and the off-duty flight attendant in query has been suspended pending consequence of an investigation.”
Some flight attendants are slicker than others. Rohan Myers, once a high-flyer for Caribbean Airlines, had an elaborate set-up under his pants. In response to a criminal grievance filed in 2015, while on the job, he wore “spandex type compression garments” under his clothes, containing molded inserts that contained nearly seven kilos of cocaine.
Like White, Myers was done in by an unexpected search. Once he began “sweating profusely and answering questions together with his head lowered,” customs officials became suspicious. Myers admitted to being promised $10,000, upon delivery of the drugs, by a person he called Bigga NFI.
Myers’ attorney and Caribbean Airlines didn’t offer comment.
“Flight attendants are easy pickings in case you’re a calculating drug smuggler,” said Reynolds’ attorney Dennis Ring. “The flight attendants aren’t sensible to the world. I think that half the time these people aren’t aware of the severity of what they’re doing. People don’t even realize that it is a federal offense. They don’t ask numerous questions.”
Terese White, 41, was meant to fly to Boston. As an alternative, she landed in police custody.
Last October, White was a Mesa Airlines flight attendant traveling from Dallas to San Diego. Between flights, she exited the SoCal airport and returned later that day to go from San Diego to Boston. As is the habit of flight attendants, in response to her plea agreement, White, a Dallas resident, “attempted to utilize the Known Crew Member queue” — a TSA security line that lets airline employees sail through with reduced screening.
“You have got a KCM card. You scan the cardboard, show your organization ID and driver’s license and walk throughout,” a former Mesa Airlines flight attendant told The Post. “But, sometimes, you get a ‘random.’ That’s if you find yourself randomly chosen to undergo the safety that everyone else goes through.”
Unfortunately for White, this was the day she was chosen.
She’s now awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to at least one account of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. White is just the most recent flight attendant to make use of what the US Attorney’s Office within the Southern District of California called “privileges as a flight attendant” as a tool for smuggling drugs.
Just like the title character of the Quentin Tarantino movie “Jackie Brown,” crooked flight attendants find frequent travel plus lax security a tempting combination. Paid off by drug dealers, a few of them turn their privilege right into a side hustle: acting as convenient mules to maneuver contraband around america.
“It stands to reason that this [smuggling by flight attendants] is often done,” attorney Dennis Ring, who represented convicted flight attendant Marsha Gay Reynolds, told The Post. “I’d think this is sort of common but they don’t get caught often.”
The random screenings, he identified, “are an unusual occurrence.”
The previous flight attendant source recalled an industry colleague who “used to go to Mexico and produce back Ritalin, Xanax and Adderall. She didn’t have prescriptions, she would come back with boxes and sell [the drugs] here.”
As recounted in america District Court grievance, White appeared hesitant to enter the the “advanced imaging technology machine” — the full-body scanner that travelers step into for low-energy X-ray. Once inside, as per the grievance, White began shaking.
She had good reason to be nervous. The machine quickly recognized something rigged to her mid-section.
Taken into a non-public room for screening, White removed what’s described as “a big mass wrapped round her abdomen” — but she insisted that it was “not what you’re thinking that.”
She told screeners that the fabric was a “mercury pack” designed for weight reduction. Los Angeles-based weight-loss physician Dr. Abe Malkin told The Post: “I’ve never heard of a ‘mercury pack’ for weight reduction. So far as I do know, it doesn’t exist.”
A test of the pack revealed the reality, though: The grievance alleges that White was attempting to smuggle and transport greater than three kilos of fentanyl.
In response to a press release from america Attorney’s Office, White pleaded guilty this past December and admitted that she “attempted to make use of her status as a flight attendant, a position of trust, to facilitate the offense.”
She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 24. Her attorney didn’t return calls for comment. Mesa Airlines didn’t comment.
The previous flight attendant source attributed the unraveling of White’s drug smuggling scheme to bad luck and bad planning. “She probably would have avoided getting busted if not for the random. Also, if [the drug pack] was in her suitcase as an alternative being attached to her body, I don’t know that she would have gotten caught.”
What she does know is that fellow flight attendants are ticked off at White because her crime has screwed up a very good thing for the remainder of them.
“Everyone seems to be sort of annoyed. Going through KCM, [they’re] getting randomed on a regular basis now. One person ruins it for everyone else,” the source said. “Doing something like [what White did] is pretty f–king ballsy .. and f–king silly. You lose your job and the flexibility to see the world. I’d never risk doing that.”
Though White went quietly for her random screening, other airline employees are more brazen. Such was the case, no less than initially, with beauty queen turned JetBlue flight attendant Marsha Gay Reynolds. As The Post reported in 2016, when the then 34-year-old was stopped for screening at LAX in Los Angeles, she kicked off her Gucci heels, dropped her bags and bolted.
Inside her luggage: 70 kilos of cocaine, with a street value of $2 million.
In some way, Reynolds reportedly managed to board a flight to Recent York and, upon landing, hole up in a Hilton Hotel near JFK before turning herself in.
In response to the United Sates Department of Justice, Reynolds had been enlisted in her misdeeds by a Jamaican man named Gaston Brown. The DOJ stated that that the 2 had collaborated to smuggle illicit substances on six different occasions. Last yr, Brown was sentenced to 165 months in federal prison for charges that include two counts of conspiracy to own and distribute cocaine.
This past November, Delta flight attendant Marcelo Chaves and his boyfriend, were arrested while exiting a Brazil to Miami flight. In response to Miami’s channel 10 news, Robert Brisley of US Customs and Border Protection said that they were busted for “possession and transportation of narcotics.”
Aa per the report, the 2 were allegedly carrying drugs, including methamphetamine and ketamine, stored in plastic bottles. Chaves and his beau admitted to “doing drugs in Brazil” but expressed no knowledge of the illicit goods of their suitcase. They are actually contending with felony drug trafficking charges.
The lawyer for Chaves didn’t comment. A Delta spokesperson told The Post, “Delta continually cooperates with law enforcement entities and the off-duty flight attendant in query has been suspended pending consequence of an investigation.”
Some flight attendants are slicker than others. Rohan Myers, once a high-flyer for Caribbean Airlines, had an elaborate set-up under his pants. In response to a criminal grievance filed in 2015, while on the job, he wore “spandex type compression garments” under his clothes, containing molded inserts that contained nearly seven kilos of cocaine.
Like White, Myers was done in by an unexpected search. Once he began “sweating profusely and answering questions together with his head lowered,” customs officials became suspicious. Myers admitted to being promised $10,000, upon delivery of the drugs, by a person he called Bigga NFI.
Myers’ attorney and Caribbean Airlines didn’t offer comment.
“Flight attendants are easy pickings in case you’re a calculating drug smuggler,” said Reynolds’ attorney Dennis Ring. “The flight attendants aren’t sensible to the world. I think that half the time these people aren’t aware of the severity of what they’re doing. People don’t even realize that it is a federal offense. They don’t ask numerous questions.”
