Alleged Drug-Smuggling Flight Attendant in Custody

Update at 7:20 p.m. March 23, 2016

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A JetBlue Airways flight attendant who allegedly had 70 pounds of cocaine in her carry-on luggage and fled from Los Angeles International Airport as security officials began searching her bags has been taken into custody, authorities said Wednesday.

Marsha Gay Reynolds, 31, of Jamaica, N.Y., who allegedly kicked off her Gucci high heels as she fled the airport, was charged in federal court with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

She surrendered to the Drug Enforcement Administration at John F. Kennedy Airport on Wednesday evening, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

"She will appear in federal court in New York before returning to California," Eimiller said.

Reynolds is expected to make her initial court appearance tomorrow in United States District Court in Brooklyn.

“Our nation’s security depends on every individual with security clearances to honor the trust placed in them,” United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker said. “The defendant’s conduct violated that trust and, in the process, exposed the public to a major narcotics transaction and the dangers inherent to such a transaction."

The affidavit attached to the complaint obtained by Patch alleges that Reynolds became nervous when she was selected for secondary screening at LAX. She then retrieved a cell phone and made a call to an unknown person in a foreign language before running the wrong way up an escalator out of the airport, leaving her shoes and bags behind.

The TSA agent that was escorting Reynolds to the secondary screening did not attempt to pursue her because the luggage she left behind was a safety issue for passengers, according to the complaint.

The abandoned luggage was found to contain 11 individually wrapped packages containing almost 70 pounds of cocaine, according to an affidavit.

In the wake of the foiled drug-smuggling attempt, Los Angeles Airport Police Officers Association President Marshall McClain called for 100 percent screening of all passengers and employees at LAX.

"Flight attendants and other crew members are not normally subjected to searches, but this is a perfect example of why Los Angeles airports need 100 percent screening of all passengers and airport employees," McClain said.

McClain disputed claims it's impossible to screen everyone that comes to work at LAX, pointing out that such screening is done at two prominent Florida airports.

"Miami International Airport and Orlando International Airport screen all of their employees," McClain said. "Miami has screened approximately 38,000 employees since 1999. Total employee screening is realistic and achievable and it should happen here at LAX."

Requiring 100 percent screening would raise the odds of stopping an insider or lone wolf terrorist attack and help minimize opportunities for airport employees to commit crimes, according to the police union.

"The weekend's incident reinforces the (union's) calls for an airport police officer to be stationed within 300 feet of the TSA screening checkpoint,' McClain said.

"While airport police officers are charged with patrolling an entire massive airport terminal, having an officer dedicated to being within 300 feet of the security area ensures that an officer is immediately available to respond to issues at the screening station. which is the last line of defense in keeping unwanted items off of planes and ill-willed individuals from getting access to planes," McClain said.

— City News Service contributed to this report.