Two United Airlines cargo agents at San Francisco International Airport have been charged after they were found stealing and selling marijuana from airport passengers' luggage. The scheme, which went on for years, helped them make much as $10,000 per week, New York Post reported.
Ramp cargo agents Joel Lamont Dunn and Adrian Webb allegedly enlisted at least three other airport workers to help them snatch the cannabis, load it into 15-20 gallon trash bags, and then put it in their personal vehicles, according to a criminal complaint filed with the US District Court of Northern California on June 9.
Mr. Dunn was the leader of the operation, while Mr. Webb was labeled as his "right-hand man" who gave directions when the former was not around.
Prosecutors say the scheme has been going on since at least 2020 when Mr Dunn first approached another airline worker to join the operation. Mr. Dunn allegedly paid the confidential source $2,000 each shift for their help, adding up to $10,000 per week.
On June 8, 2021, cameras captured the employees moving black trash bags out of the secure area of the airport, according to prosecutors. Later that day, Dunn and Webb were robbed at gunpoint in the SFO employee parking lot near their vehicles. Though the pair reported the robbery to law enforcement, they did not mention marijuana to the police.
However, police confronted two of Dunn and Webb's unnamed accomplices in October 2022 as they were hauling vacuum-sealed bags of weed that weighed a total of 30 pounds, according to court filings.
The duo were charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for their part in a scheme that prosecutors said dates back to at least 2020, The San Francisco Standard reported.
The two are now out on bail of $75,000 and $50,000 and awaiting a trial date.
