23471: (Hermantin) Sun-sentinel-Airline worker accused in drug-smuggling case (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Airline worker accused in drug-smuggling case



By Ann W. O'Neill
Staff Writer

October 16, 2004

Federal authorities charged Friday that an American Airlines security
director used her position at the Port-au-Prince airport to help Haitian
smugglers fly millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States.

Stephanie Ambroise, 26, is the latest Haitian arrested in the U.S. inquiry
into the corrupting influence of the cocaine trade that flourished under
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The investigation already has
resulted in charges against a former Haitian senator and several top police
officials.

According to court records, Ambroise pocketed $2,000 for every kilogram --
2.2 pounds -- of cocaine she let slip through airport security and onto
U.S.-bound commercial flights.

An American Airlines spokeswoman had no comment.

Agents arrested Ambroise at Miami International Airport on Thursday as she
prepared to board a flight home to Port-au-Prince, Drug Enforcement
Administration spokesman Joe Kilmer said.

Ambroise appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate Barry Garber to answer a
criminal complaint accusing her of conspiring to import cocaine into the
United States. A hearing to determine whether she should remain behind bars
is scheduled Tuesday.

According to an affidavit supporting the arrest, Ambroise controlled all the
cocaine that left Haiti on board American Airlines flights bound for Miami
and New York.

Beginning in 2000, she allegedly worked closely with a trafficker, sending
two to three loads each month. She also allegedly facilitated shipments for
other traffickers.

Under the system devised by Ambroise and the drug smugglers, suitcases
packed with cocaine were delivered to Ambroise's husband the night before an
American Airlines flight departed.

She attached numbered shipping tags on them, according to the affidavit by
DEA agent Dawn Molkenbur.

Ambroise gave an airport worker the tag numbers, and he loaded the bags onto
the flights.

The affidavit revealed that four cooperating cocaine traffickers and a
former police official implicated Ambroise.

The informants also have provided information that helped build cases
against several of Aristide's key political and police leaders.


Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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