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3 Southwest Airlines Baggage Handlers, 11 Others Accused Of Smuggling Drugs

3 Southwest Airlines Baggage Handlers, 11 Others Accused Of Smuggling Drugs

By Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Three Southwest Airlines baggage handlers at Oakland, California International Airport are among 14 people charged with bypassing airport security in order to smuggle several hundred pounds of marijuana across the country, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

The three baggage handlers all hail from the San Francisco Bay Area: Kenneth Fleming, 32; Keith Mayfield, 34; and Michael Videau, 28. According to the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco, the three brought backpacks and duffel bags containing marijuana into restricted areas of the airport.

Using their security badges, the baggage handlers entered the airport terminal and handed off the drugs to a ticketed passenger who had already passed through airport security, according to a sworn affidavit filed by federal investigators.

The trio relied on about eight people — who were also named in the complaint — to smuggle the drugs into cities across the nation, including Nashville, Tenn.; Phoenix; New Orleans; and Little Rock, Ark.

The scheme is believed to have started in July 2012 and continued for nearly three years, according to the affidavit.

The 67-page complaint details how the alleged conspiracy operated. Kameron Davis, 26, one of the alleged couriers, said he was paid about $600 to $800 for each of the three trips he made to Nashville and brought a total of about 30 pounds of marijuana into the city, according to the complaint.

About four a.m. on the day of his flight, Davis told federal officials, he would meet one of the baggage handlers, identified as Fleming, and turn over the marijuana, according to the affidavit. After clearing security, he was notified in a text message from Fleming of the rendezvous point inside the terminal, according to the affidavit.

“Wait in the bathroom for five mins when u come upstairs,” Fleming instructed Davis in one text message from April 30, 2013. “Go to the sink like u washing ur hands.”

At such meeting points, authorities allege, the luggage containing the drugs was passed off. Federal authorities identified ten instances in which they allege Fleming handed off the marijuana to one of the couriers passing through Oakland’s Southwest terminal.

Mayfield is also accused of using the cargo discounts provided to Southwest Airlines employees to send nearly two dozen shipments of several kilograms of marijuana to New York City; Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia; Atlanta; and Dallas, among other cities, according to the affidavit.

Once the marijuana was sold, authorities say the proceeds were placed into accounts managed by three people — Ahshatae Millhouse, 27; Laticia Morris, 40; and Donald Holland II, 42.

All 14 people named in connection with the drug trafficking scheme have been charged with a felony count of conspiracy to distribute 100 or more kilograms of marijuana, according to the complaint. If convicted, each faces between five and 40 years in federal prison.

So far, nine people named in the complaint have been arrested, including Fleming, Mayfield and Videau. Two others — Clyde Jamerson, 41, and Ronnell Molton, 34 — are already serving prison sentences in Arkansas and Louisiana, according to federal officials.

Three people are fugitives: Brandon Davillier, 27, of Slidell, La.; Francisco Carrasco, 29, of Hayward, Calif.; and Millhouse, of Oakland.

Photo: John Rogers via Flickr

Airline On-Time Rates Fell In May

Airline On-Time Rates Fell In May

By Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune

U.S. airlines posted worse on-time rates in May, and Chicago airports ranked last for on-time departures.

U.S. airlines were on time 76.9 percent of the time, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. That’s down from 79.4 percent last May and 79.6 percent in April. Just 0.6 percent of flights were delayed because of weather. Late-arriving aircraft, carrier delays and aviation system delays were the biggest factors, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report.

United Airlines posted a rate of 76.4 percent.

American Airlines posted a rate of 79.1 percent buoyed by its merger partner US Airways, which posted 82.1 percent.

On-time problems continued for Southwest Airlines in May. It was on time 72.7 percent of the time, worst among large carriers. Southwest flights from Chicago to New York-area airports, Newark and LaGuardia were chronic problems, according to the report. Its performance no doubt contributed to the 60.2 percent departure rate at Midway during May, by far the worst among large airports.

Southwest also ranked lowest among large carriers for mishandling luggage, losing nearly four bags per 1,000 passengers. Southwest is one of the few airlines that does not charge for checked bags.

Most punctual airlines were Hawaiian Airlines, 93.2 percent; Alaska Airlines, 89.7 percent; and Delta Air Lines, 84.4 percent.

Carriers reported canceling 1.9 percent of their scheduled domestic flights in May, up from 1.1 percent in both May 2013 and in April 2014.

United and American airlines both rated poorly for consumer complaint rates. Only Frontier Airlines ranked worse among the dozen airlines included in the report.

Photo: Shyb via Flickr

Feds To Probe Why Southwest Flight Landed At Wrong Missouri Airport

Feds To Probe Why Southwest Flight Landed At Wrong Missouri Airport 

By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times

Federal officials will investigate why a Southwest Airlines flight landed at the wrong airport in southwest Missouri, coming safely to a screeching stop on a shorter runway about seven miles from its intended destination in Branson.

The landing Sunday evening was the second recent incident involving a large jet missing its assigned airport. In November, a Boeing 747 that was supposed to deliver parts to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan., landed nine miles north at Col. James Jabara Airport. That plane had no passengers.

Southwest Flight 4013, with 124 passengers and a crew of five, left Chicago's Midway International Airport bound for Branson Airport then on to Dallas. But the plane, a Boeing 737-700 landed instead at Taney County Airport, also known as M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport, according to a statement from the airline.

The airline gave no reason for why the plane landed at the second airport, which does not usually handle bigger jets because it has shorter runways than those at Branson Airport.

The website Flightaware.com, which tracks flights, said the Southwest flight landed at 6:11 p.m. Sunday. It was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the high 50s in Branson at that time.
The landing was safe with no injuries reported, but some of the passengers told reporters it was abrupt.

"The landing was really abrupt and the pilot applied the brakes really strongly," Dallas attorney Scott Schieffer, who was on the flight, told WFAA-TV. "You could hear it and you could certainly feel it."

The passengers were taken to the larger airport where they were placed on a plane to complete their flight to Dallas.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration announced on Monday that they will investigate the landing. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., also questioned it in a statement released by his office.

"I've landed at this airport and it's tough to navigate in small planes _ let alone in an aircraft this size," the senator stated. "People have every right to assume that they will arrive at their correct destination. As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, I will insist that federal regulators do a thorough investigation to find out exactly what happened in Southwest Missouri."

Photo: Shyb via Flickr