Friday, October 29, 2004

FIVE JFK AIRPORT BAGGAGE HANDLERS CHARGED IN THEFT OF LAP TOP COMPUTERS, CAMERAS AND OTHER EXPENSIVE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT FROM AIRLINE PASSENGER BAGGAGE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, joined by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Superintendent of Police Samuel J. Plumeri, Jr., announced today that luggage handlers for Swissport USA, Incorporated -- a ground service provider at John F. Kennedy International Airport -- have been charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property in the unlawful removal of lap top computers, cameras, printers and other expensive electronic equipment valued at $23,000 from airline passenger baggage.

Some of the stolen property was later sold to undercover detectives and on eBay, an online retail auction company.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendants are charged with victimizing air passengers by stealing expensive electronic equipment including computers and cameras from their baggage. Crimes involving airline luggage are both invasive and offensive and exact a costly mental toll beyond property loss that includes annoyance, anguish, inconvenience and frustration.”

PAPD Superintendent of Police Plumeri said, "These individuals allegedly conspired to steal items from unsuspecting customers at one of the world's busiest airports. For months, detectives from the Port Authority Police Department worked diligently to uncover this criminal behavior. We will continue to work aggressively with District Attorney Brown in uncovering and prosecuting all crimes."

The District Attorney identified the defendants -- both current and former ramp agents employed by Swissport USA, Inc. -- as currently employed ramp agents Ralph Triplett, 42, no known address, Marthius Simon, 26, of 111 Lincoln Avenue in Brooklyn and Omar Malcolm, 33, of 12-41 Elder Avenue in the Bronx and formerly employed ramp agents Colin Layne, 21, of 230-19 148th Avenue in Rosedale, Queens and Damion Gregory, 23, of 1151 Sheridan Avenue in the Bronx.

District Attorney Brown said that separate criminal complaints variously charge the defendants with Grand Larceny in the Third and Fourth Degree and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth and Fifth Degree. If convicted, defendants Triplett and Layne face up to seven years in prison and defendants Simon, Malcolm and Gregory face up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

According to Swissport USA, Incorporated, the company is a ground service provider that transports cargo, passenger luggage and other items from terminals to aircraft using ramp agents and other workers who are not authorized to open or inspect passenger luggage.

It is alleged that defendant Triplett stole a Time laptop computer valued at over $1,500 and later sold it to an undercover detective for $180, stole two Olympus cameras valued at $600 and sold them to an undercover detective for $70; stole one Radio Shack cordless telephone valued at $80 and sold it to an undercover detective for $30 and a stole a Mastsui camera valued at $80 and sold it to an undercover detective for $30.

It is alleged that defendant Layne stole on February 14, 2004 a Dell Computer Power Edge 2600 server valued at over $12,000 and later sold it for over $2,000 in an eBay auction transaction.

It is alleged that defendant Simon criminally possessed on May 18, 2004 and June 2, 2004 a stolen Cytron lap top computer valued at $1,500 and that he later sold it for $230 to an undercover detective and that he criminally possessed a stolen Hewlett Packard printer valued at $900 and that he later sold it to an undercover detective for $150.

It is alleged that defendant Gregory criminally possessed a stolen MP-3 player and later sold it to an undercover detective for $40. Defendant Gregory also admitted to stealing compact discs and cologne from passenger luggage.

It is alleged that defendant Malcolm criminally possessed a stolen Olympus digital camera valued at over $300 and sold it to an undercover detective for $75.

District Attorney Brown said that detectives earlier this week executed a court-authorized search warrant drafted by his Rackets and Organized Crime Bureau at defendant Layne’s Rosedale residence and recovered a Xerox/FAX copier, a Canon camera, a computer tower, six computer hard drives, three computer memory chips, an Intel Pentium chip, and foreign currency that are alleged to have been removed from passenger baggage.

The alleged scheme was uncovered in May when the PAPD developed information that Swissport USA, Inc. employees were stealing items from air passenger luggage. PAPD detectives conducted extensive surveillance, including the use of concealed cameras, of the screening areas and the evidence obtained from the observations forms the factual basis for the criminal complaints that have been filed in Queens Criminal Court.

The investigation was conducted by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department Detectives Dewan Maharaj, William Kehoe and Aida Carrasco under the supervision of Lieutenant William Hanley and the overall supervision of Inspector George Albin.

Assistant District Attorney Purvi Patel of the District Attorney’s Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Christina Hanophy, Chief of the Airport Investigations and Counter-Terrorism Unit, and Assistant District Attorneys Gerard A. Brave, Bureau Chief, and Marc P. Resnick, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.

It should be noted that criminal complaints are merely accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.