MYFOXNY.COM -
18 airport workers are charged in connection with tens of thousands of mini-bottles of liquor and duty-free merchandise from JFK International Airport.
Prosecutors say the gang stole more than $750,000 worth of liquor and other items over the past five months.
15 present and former truck drivers employed by Sky Chef, the food and beverage subsidiary for American Airlines, and three security guards employed by FJC Security Services Inc., and SCIS Air Security Corporation were busted.
Prosecutors claim the group sold the liquor, perfume and cigarettes to sell on the black market.
The busts came after an investigation - dubbed "Operation Last Call"
District Attorney Brown said, "Airport security personnel entrusted with guarding against theft and maintaining security at the airport were allegedly involved in the scheme. If a terrorist wanted to breach airport security, the alleged actions of these defendants gave then a back-door opportunity to do so."
The theft ring is alleged to have stolen more than 57,000 mini bottles of liquor and about $40,000 worth of duty-free merchandise.
In addition, a court-authorized search warrant was executed at the residence of one of the defendants - a retired Sky Chef driver - this morning. Among the alleged items seized as a result of that warrant were 500 to 600 garbage bags filled with mini liquor bottles (each bag containing approximately 100 bottles) worth between $385,000 and $420,000, as well as $34,000 in cash.
Sky Chef assembles the liquor mini bottles that are loaded onto planes to be served to in-flight. Following a flight, Sky Chef employees are responsible for transporting any unsold merchandise from the aircraft back to a storage facility on the airport grounds.
Sky Chef drivers would allegedly remove the unsold mini liquor bottles from planes and either put them in their own cars or sell them to co-workers on the loading docks.
Black market prices allegedly ran from $0.55 for a bottle of Baileys to a $1.25 for a bottle of Courvoisier.
Prosecutors claim security guards were given quantities of the mini liquor bottles in return for not carefully inspecting the Sky Chef vehicles passing through the checkpoint areas.
Investigators made undercover buys of more than 57,000 min-bottles of liquor at part of their investigation.
Most of the arrests came Wednesday after the employees were called to attend an "important security meeting" at the airport.
Here is a list of the defendants and their charges:
SKY CHEF TRUCK DRIVERS:
The following Sky Chef drivers face grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property charges.
Edgar Aquino-Acosta, 24, of 345 Fountain Avenue in Brooklyn
Domingo A. Duran, 62, of 139-12 109th Road in Jamaica, Queens (retired) (50,000 to 60,000 mini liquor bottles and $34,000 in cash were found in his home)
Frankiyn Gill, 64, of 103-18 116th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens
Kelvin Gomez-Nunez, 32, of 1743 Norman Street in Ridgewood, Queens
Isaacs Hernandez, 24, of 306 Arlington Avenue in Brooklyn
Elvin Imbert, 37, of 87-06 104th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens
Ablam Kloutse, 44, of 102-30 134th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens
William Leyva, 48, of 1716 40th Street in North Bergen, New Jersey
Freddie Lucas, 36, of 240-06 146th Avenue in Rosedale, Queens
Richard Luna, 50, of 50 Westcott Street in Inwood, New York
Maxime Mathe, 39, of 197-06 110th Avenue in St. Albans, Queens
Raymond Prenza, 36, of 110 West 130th Street in Manhattan
Isaac Romoleon, 51, of 168-10 111th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens
Arkadiusz Szmitko, 32, of 60-22 Linden Street in Elmhurst, Queens
George Torez, 30, of 118-92 Riverton Street in St. Albans, Queens
The following were the security guards were arrested in connection with the case.
Jose Baez, 50, of 72-15 62nd Street in Glendale, Queens, is employed by FJC Security and is charged with third-degree bribe receiving, receiving a reward for official misconduct, petit larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
Martin Molina, 50, of 34-19 43rd Street in Long Island City, Queens, is employed by FJC Security and is charged with third-degree bribe receiving, receiving a reward for official misconduct, second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
Stalin Pinossimbana, 20, of 107-16 75th Street in Ozone Park, Queens, is employed by SCIS Security and is charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
