Miss Jamaica World runner-up, 'fled LAX because she had $3 MILLION worth of cocaine in two suitcases has been arrested at JFK'
"....took off her gucci shoes, and ran away from the airport'
Marsha Gay Reynolds surrendered to federal authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport
She was on the run from LAX police after 11 packages of cocaine wrapped in green cellophane and labeled, 'BIG Ranch' was found inside one of her bags
Massino said the retail value of the cocaine could be as high as $3 million
Marsha Gay Reynolds surrendered to federal authorities at John F. Kennedy International Airport
She was on the run from LAX police after 11 packages of cocaine wrapped in green cellophane and labeled, 'BIG Ranch' was found inside one of her bags
Flight
attendant: Marsha Gay Reynolds, former runner up for Miss Jamaica
World in 2008 (pictured), was arrested in New York on Wednesday. Police
say she left two suitcases filled with cocaine at security in LAX
Transportation Security Administration
officials asked Reynolds to step aside for a random security screening
Friday, authorities said.
Reynolds went to a secondary screening
area but quickly dropped her bag, ditched a pair of Gucci heels and
fled barefoot downward on an upward-moving escalator, Marshall McClain,
president of the union representing LAX airport police officers, said
Monday.
Reynolds was charged with cocaine possession with intent to distribute. It was unclear if she yet had an attorney.
Mrozek said prosecutors believe reports that Reynolds was a runner-up in Miss Jamaica World 2008.
New York University lists a Marsha-Gay
Reynolds as having been on the school's 2004 women's track and field
team, though it wasn't immediately clear if that was the same Reynolds
arrested Wednesday.
Heavy
duty: The cocaine weighed just over 68 pounds. Wholesale, the drugs
would be worth about $750,000 in Los Angeles and around $3 million on
the streets
On Friday, Reynolds arrived at an LAX
checkpoint in Terminal 4 wearing jeans, heels and a black suit jacket,
carrying her 'known crew member badge,' according to an FBI affidavit
in support of the charge against Reynolds. It wasn't immediately clear
whether she was on duty at the time.
When Reynolds was chosen for a random
security screening, TSA Officer Jamie Samuel said the flight attendant
became nervous and began looking around before pulling out her
cellphone and making a call, according to the affidavit.
Samuel reported that Reynolds was
talking on the phone in a foreign language as she was being taken to a
secondary screening area, the affidavit says.
Once in the secondary screening area, TSA Officer Charles James asked for her identification.
'At this time, Reynolds dropped her carry-on luggage, removed her shoes and began to run away,' according to the affidavit.
James saw Reynolds run down an
upward-moving escalator and out of the terminal, the affidavit says,
adding that the officer didn't pursue her because her abandoned luggage
was his main concern.
LAX police soon after found 11 packages
of cocaine wrapped in green cellophane and labeled, 'BIG Ranch' inside
one of the bags Reynolds had left behind, the affidavit says.
The cocaine weighed just over 68
pounds. Wholesale, the drugs would be worth about $750,000 in Los
Angeles, said Special Agent Timothy Massino, a spokesman for the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration.
Drugs:
LAX police found 11 packages of cocaine wrapped in green cellophane
and labeled, 'BIG Ranch' inside one of the bags Reynolds had allegedly
left behind
On the streets of Los Angeles, Massino said the retail value of the cocaine could be as high as $3 million.
Security threats from 'insiders,'
including airline and airport employees and workers hired by
contractors, have been a focus of the TSA, particularly after the
December 2014 arrest of several
Delta Air Lines baggage handlers.
Prosecutors allege they smuggled guns, including an AK-47, from Atlanta
to New York.
The TSA has said that full screening of
all employees would cost too much. Instead, the agency has urged
airports to increase random screenings of workers and to keep
background checks up to date.
'We will pay particular attention to
the insider threat,' TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told a Senate
committee earlier this month.
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