This story has been updated as of April 9.
A JetBlue Airways flight attendant accused of trying to smuggle nearly 60 pounds of cocaine in her carry-on luggage and fleeing when she was pulled aside for a random baggage search at Los Angeles International Airport was ordered jailed without bail today pending trial.
Earlier today, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Marsha Gay Reynolds, 31, on a single felony count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, which carries a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Reynolds, of Queens, New York, allegedly sprinted down an up escalator and out of LAX, leaving behind her luggage, after she was randomly selected for secondary screening, a federal prosecutor said.
The following day, she worked a JetBlue flight back to New York and surrendered to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents there on March 23, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Reema M. El-Amamy.
At the conclusion of an hour-long bail review hearing, U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. found that she was a flight risk and there was “no condition or combination of conditions” to ensure she would appear for future court appearances if set free.
Reynolds — whose relatives watched from the audience — showed no response to the judge’s no-bail ruling.
Noting the presence of the defendant’s family members, Birotte said the relatives “had no idea their daughter could be involved in something like this.”
He said it was “unfortunate” that they were now learning about a “Marsha that they did not know,” one who has allegedly become involved in a criminal conspiracy.
“She has found herself in waters deeper than she anticipated,” the judge said. “But now she must navigate them.”
Defense attorney Stu Goldfarb argued that Reynolds deserves bail based on her lack of criminal history, close family ties in New York, the fact that she self-surrendered and provided some cooperation in the case.
El-Amamy countered that there is “some evidence” Reynolds was involved in a “larger conspiracy” with the means to help her flee the country prior to trial.
The prosecutor said Reynolds, who has been suspended from her JetBlue job, has “substantial ties” to her native Jamaica and only turned herself in “to make herself look more innocent.”
The judge said he was especially concerned about the large amount of narcotics in the case and Reynolds’ frequent trips to Jamaica, where she has what Goldfarb described as a boyfriend she intends to marry.
“What she was, was a ‘mule,”‘ Goldfarb told the court, referring to those who smuggle drugs for others.
Reynolds, who allegedly kicked off her Gucci high heels as she ran from LAX, was initially granted $500,000 bail during a hearing in a New York court last month, but Birotte stayed the decision and set today’s hearing to review the magistrate’s decision.
“This is a lot of cocaine,” the judge said.
A former beauty pageant contestant in Jamaica, Reynolds has been a New York-based JetBlue employee for six years. Her lawyer said she was also a nursing student, but has withdrawn from school.
The drug discovery was made March 18 in Terminal 4 by a Transportation Security Administration security officer who was screening the airline attendant’s carry-on bags as part of a random search, according to an FBI affidavit.
As the TSA officer led Reynolds to a location to be searched, she made a cellphone call — speaking in what sounded like a foreign language — then kicked off her shoes and ran from the terminal down the up escalator, the affidavit says.
“Upon being notified she was going to secondary screening, she appeared nervous and kept her distance from the supervisor,” Birotte told the court, reviewing the factual basis for the charge.
“And before the bags were even open, she utilized her track skills to flee from the airport,” the judge said.
Goldfarb, though, unsuccessfully argued that his client’s apparent “consciousness of guilt should not preclude her from getting bail.”
Prosecutors said Reynolds’ abandoned luggage was found to contain 11 individually wrapped packages — labeled “Big Ranch” — that were taken to the Los Angeles police’s Forensic Science Division, where the contents tested positive for cocaine.
“It takes a very bold criminal to run through the airport — and come back the next day and flee the district,” El-Amamy said.
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.
Reynolds is due back in court April 22 for a post-indictment arraignment, at which time a trial date will be set.
