26004: Hermantin (news)Airline workers busted in bag-snatching sting (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Aug. 18, 2005

Miami Herald



MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT


Airline workers busted in bag-snatching sting

BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH

snesmith@herald.com


Miami-Dade police and U.S. postal inspectors arrested three American Airlines 
employees Wednesday on charges they stole mail headed to Haiti.

In the mail bags, the men found cash, possibly being sent from local residents 
to their relatives in that impoverished country, where many people rely on 
money sent to them from Miami.

''This is a public trust issue,'' said Del Alvarez, spokesman for the U.S. 
Postal Inspection Service. ``These individuals are entrusted with people's 
personal belongings and they took advantage of that. ''

Bryan Riley, 40, of Homestead, Nelson Rodriguez, 42, of Miami, and Sidney 
Jimenez, of Pembroke Pines, were all charged with grand theft after 
investigators staked out a plane they were loading at Miami International 
Airport.

''They didn't target anything in particular, just took bags of mail,'' Alvarez 
said. ``They would take the whole bag and whatever they found inside, they 
kept.''

Alvarez said investigators set up a surveillance operation after receiving 
complaints about missing mail. The three men were caught stealing the mail 
inside the belly of the airplane, he said.

Alvarez declined to say how much money was taken.

''What I can say is that this was a systemic problem at the airport and our 
investigation is continuing,'' he said. ``More individuals might be arrested.''

He said investigators had also received complaints of jewelry being stolen from 
the mail.

Investigators are especially interested in the alleged incident because it 
shows security gaps exist at the airport.

''If you can take something out, you can also put something in the belly of 
that aircraft,'' he said.

``These are homeland security issues.''

American Airlines security employees and Miami-Dade police assisted in the 
investigation, Alvarez said.