Airline Employees Charged in Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Ring, Abused Trusted Positions for Smuggling Millions in Cash

Four airline employees, including Charlie Hernandez, Sarah Valerio Pujols, Emmanuel Torres, and Jarol Fabio, have been charged with operating an unlicensed money transmission business and violating airport security requirements as part of an international drug trafficking and money laundering ring. The suspects, who all held special clearance with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) under the Known Crewmember Program (KCM), allegedly smuggled millions of dollars worth of drug proceeds from the US to the Dominican Republic by taking advantage of their trusted positions as flight attendants. They reportedly used the codeword “lotions” to refer to drug cash and checked in with their handlers for cargo before flights. Hernandez is accused of smuggling $2.5 million over five years, while Pujols allegedly moved at least $1.5 million in the same period. Both Torres and Fabio are said to have smuggled over $1.5 million each in recent years and could face up to 15 years in prison. In exchange for getting the cash through TSA checkpoints, they each received a small cut of around $1,000 to $2,000 for every $60,000 smuggled. Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD started investigating the ring in 2018 after receiving information from a cooperative witness. After stopping Pujols, the informant claimed that Hernandez still had $60,000 left undisclosed. Hernandez now also faces conspiracy charges, bringing his potential penalty to 20 years in jail, while Pujols faces both conspiracy charges and bulk cash smuggling charges, which could lead to a 25-year maximum penalty if she’s convicted. Pujols was fired by her airline in 2019, and CBP officers discovered $60,000 in undeclared cash in her luggage at the time. The TSA’s KCM program enables airline staff members to use an exclusive entrance and receive lesser scrutiny than other passengers during security checks. However, the program has been criticized for its potential vulnerability to exploitation, as evidenced by this case.