Airline Employees Smuggled Meth Through LAX: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — Two airline employees are facing federal charges that they helped smuggle large amounts of methamphetamine out of Los Angeles International Airport by taking advantage of the fact that they do not need to go through security screenings.

Alejandro Medina Beltran, 23, of Compton, and Luis Armando Valenzuela, 29, of Inglewood, have been charged with felony possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.

The pair are identified as employees of Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines. As employees, they're transported via a shuttle bus to and from an employee parking area to the secure area of Terminal 4. They are not subjected to security screenings once in the terminal, according to the criminal complaint obtained by Patch.

Beltran and Valenzuela, along with a third employee who was not charged alongside them, are accused of bringing in backpacks full of drugs. On several occasions, they entered the passenger area of the terminal — in some cases wearing their brightly colored safety vests — and headed to a men's bathroom, according to the criminal complaint.

Inside the bathroom, they entered specific stalls next to another person — identified only as a "courier" named S.N., who had entered the airport as a passenger. They swapped backpacks with S.N. underneath the stall walls. The men would then leave the bathroom with empty backpacks, while S.N. would leave with bags full of drugs, according to the criminal complaint.

S.N. would then board a flight and deliver the drugs to someone in another city, according to the criminal complaint.

The courier told police that between January and April he took 10 to 12 such trips and was paid $2,000 per trip. He was set up with the gig through a friend who knew he was struggling to find work, the man told police during an interrogation, according to court documents.

Beltran was paid $1,500 cash for each backpack he smuggled into the airport, he told police, and he recruited Valenzuela and another man to help him because sometimes he was tasked with delivering multiple bags, according to court documents.

The pair were set to make their first court appearance Thursday, though were not expected to enter a plea.

Patch has reached out to American Airlines for comment.