SFO United staff accused of stealing marijuana from checked bags | Hacker News Reader

SFO United staff accused of stealing marijuana from checked bags

sfstandard.com

113 pointsBrajeshwar76 comments

> Prosecutors say the scheme dates back to at least 2020, when Dunn first approached another airline employee to join the operation, court filings say. That person later became a confidential source for law enforcement. Dunn allegedly paid the confidential source $2,000 each shift for their help, adding up to $10,000 per week.

> Law enforcement confronted two of Dunn and Webb’s unnamed accomplices in October 2022. The unnamed people were carrying vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana that weighed a total of 30 pounds, according to court filings.

Jesus christ, how much cannabis moves through SFO on a daily basis and what fraction of it did they steal!? Last I checked a decent pound of weed costs $1,000-2,000 wholesale so they were stealing at least a pound or more a shift? Something just doesn't smell right. It sounds like the unnamed people were paid $2k per shift to smuggle stuff out instead of stealing directly but smuggling 30 pounds out at a time.... maybe not.

> On June 8, 2021, cameras captured Dunn, Webb and other 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. The pair reported the robbery to law enforcement but did not mention marijuana to the police.

What!?

> What!?

They didn’t pay off the TSA/SFPD guys who have all the cameras, silly.

Peanuts compared to a A380 larded with heroin.

SFO doesn't have TSA agents.

The staff managing the security lines at SFO are all contractors from a private company as SF got an exemption from the Federal Govt in 2002 to continue managing security on their own.

Also, security at SFO doesn't check for Weed. This has been an open policy of theirs for years.

> Also, security at SFO doesn't check for Weed. This has been an open policy of theirs for years.

That likely explains why this operation was able to work at the scale it was.

The robbery smells like a few too many people knew what was happening and wanted their own taste of the action.

Just a reminder that if you want to prevent theft from checked luggage on domestic flights in the USA, check a firearm in your luggage. TSA tracks those bags very carefully and they won't steal from them (or let anyone else do so either).

Learned this from a musician friend and have since learned it's SOP for people who have to check expensive gear (photographers etc).

For the firearms-averse, this I've heard can be a flare gun or starter pistol, and I'm not sure it has to be a functioning one.

Or A small box of .22 ammunition blanks.

That's a good trick, but if it's a real firearm, you need to pay close attention to firearm laws at your destination. You don't want to fly into NYC with a firearm that's not registered in NY state, for example, people are slapped with felony charges for this on a regular basis without having any idea they were committing a crime.

A starter gun will also do the trick.

as will an empty gun used to fire signal flares

This may have been true at one point, but current TSA rules indicate that flare guns are not allowed through security, even in checked bags:

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...

Note that this is separate from the flares themselves, which are also not allowed.

Probably because too many people have accidentally packed loaded flare guns on the plane. A loaded gun is only dangerous if someone uses it. A flare gun probably doesn't have much in terms of safeties so it has a better chance of going off and starting a fire. A single bullet isn't going to do nearly as much damage if the gun somehow went off on its own.

You have to show the check in counter that the gun has no bullets in it. So I don’t understand how you could accidentally pack a loaded one.

"Mistakes were made" :/

TSA got upset their low level employees couldn't be subsidized by stealing from bags with flare guns checked in them (which were the easiest to obtain compared to a gun)

I believe starter pistols are also regulated in New York City.

I think you get the same effect by just transporting ammunition which tends to have less inane^Wstringrent laws.

Where possessing a firearm is illegal the ammunition is also frequently illegal to possess.

I’m not aware of any State that all ammunition alone is illegal.

Some States do have specific laws banning possession or transport of handgun ammunition or hollow points, but none that would apply to a box of 12-gauge shells or .22 rounds.

> Where possessing a firearm is illegal

In which US jurisdiction is possessing a firearm illegal?

MA and NY both require a license to possess any kind of smokeless powder firearm. MA allows black powder without a license and I am not going to guess what NY allows.

New York State does not require permits for long guns, NYC has more stringent licensing though.

Should have spent more time researching!

As the other comment points out, there are plenty. For example, you must be careful not to accidentally drive into New Jersey as this poor mother did awhile back:

https://6abc.com/shaneen-allen-new-jersey-news-philadelphia-...

Lawful gun owners in the Northeast must be extremely careful and aware of the nuances of transportation within and between these states.

Massachusetts and New York both require a license. Basically in locations where possession of a firearm is restricted to licensed persons the ammunition is also typically licensed.

The exception is locations where only some types of firearms require a license to possess because the ones that don't require a license usually take the same ammunition as the ones that require a license. That doesn't happen in the US AFAIK.

This approach can be a little problematic.

I'm particular, communications between the airline and tsa aren't all that reliable.

See for example:

https://youtu.be/l0IwVrC56tc

Maybe you could use a plastic (toy) gun. Is there some kind of penalty for declaring a firearm, and then it not being real?

Of course, if this becomes a big trend, it could cause real problems if 50% of the flying public carries a toy gun in their luggage just to prevent thefts by airport employees.

You have to show it, and show that it is rendered safe, to the check in agent who takes your bag.

It depends, I’ve checked firearms and had various levels of thoroughness in the inspection.

This is really bad advice and can lead to unforeseen consequences. How about leave the guns at home and put a lock on the luggage, or put the marijuana in the checked baggage?

Locks have to be TSA approved, your advice won’t add any protection to luggage.

Edit: there must be a comprehension problem. Op suggested to use a lock, TSA locks are not helpful for luggage without a firearm. Traveling with a firearm and using a non-TSA approved lock is suggested and the right approach. Never did I say use a tsa lock with a firearm.

>Locks have to be TSA approved, your advice won’t add any protection to luggage.

Allow me to repeat that to people that are unfamiliar with the TSA. Your locks on your luggage have to be approved by the TSA -so they can break into your luggage

You missed my point.

Negative, eager, young space cadet! TSA locks are expressly forbidden on gun cases. You must use your own, non-TSA lock.

Meaning one can visually identify which luggages have firearms inside based on the lock alone?

No. People travel regularly with non-TSA approved locks.

The TSA stuff may cut it open when they see one.

Space cadet? What?

That's generally the case, but not true here. 49 CFR § 1540.111(c)(2)(iv) requires that when firearms are transported in checked baggage, "only the passenger retains the key or combination." TSA approved locks are not allowed here because by their very design, the TSA retains a key to the locked luggage. That's why when traveling with firearms, you'll either need to wait by the bag drop for 15 minutes in case the TSA calls you to unlock your bag or you'll have your bag inspected in front of you.

Not following what you’re suggesting. In familiar with the law.

Still a bad idea to carry around the gun if you don't need it, and certainly if you're just using it to prevent theft of luggage. Seems quite asinine.

You're suggesting checking a firearm with weed in the same bag. Are you out of your mind?!

No, they are suggesting checking in a firearm with anything that you absolutely do not want stolen.

Fun fact: A BB gun falls under this as well. Which means you can literally buy a $50 bb pistol in order to secure valuables in your luggage.

I did exactly this when checking a lot of expensive equipment.

You get your bags brought out to you at baggage claim too! Got a lot of dirty looks lol

At this point, a luggage should just come with built-in BB gun.

Are bb pistols illegal in NY state?

Edit: the link

I remember seeing one of these DefCons[0] mentioned that you can use a gun part as well. Like a buustock would do the trick.

[0]: https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2017/DEF%20CON%2017%20pre...

Packing in the friendly skies DEFCON 17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfqtYfaILHw

But I would probably also want a lawyer on retainer if venturing into the minefield of the Northeast USA.

Seems like a real circus. The SFO United Staff steal majijuana from the checked bags, and they themselves are later held up at gunpoint in the parking lot and stolen from.

I'm guessing they were robbed by the people they were selling it to. They probably would have gotten away with it if they had been smart enough to not report the robbery. But I'm guessing they weren't too smart.

They're working as baggage handlers, so that's a safe bet.

From an entrepreneurial standpoint, they created a 10M ARR high risk business but highly liquid business with little loans and minimal leverage. What have you accomplished?

All joking aside, I think it’s quite rude and elitist to imply something about someone’s intelligence just because of their chosen occupation. My dad had a Master’s in electrical engineering, brilliant at maths and physics, and was top of his class at university. As an immigrant he could only find jobs doing manual labor and whatnot.

There's a difference between working an honest manual labor job and being a thief.

The conclusion OP made is that them working as baggage handlers implies they have low intelligence. The truth is we don’t actually know the details of what happened yet. As other posters noted, reliably moving $30k worth of weed daily isn’t nothing and doesn’t seem like something you’d get just by stealing it out of random suitcases which implies there may be more here. Maybe they were stupid or maybe they were helping cartels smuggle the shit. But their job as baggage handlers tells us nothing about their intelligence.

Around the same. Don't forget where you're posting.

I didn't say it was a certainty, just a good bet. Besides working as baggage handlers, engaging extraordinarily risky behavior and then directly taking actions that led to being caught does not speak well to their decision-making capabilities.

They are getting up at 4am like all tech billionaires say is what got them where they are today ...

I was hearing yackety sax playing in my head while reading that bit.

How did they find the cannabis in the first place? Maybe I'm naive, but I'd assume that people carrying weed in their checked bags is like a 1 in 100 or 1 in 1000 type thing, and that it would be hidden. This implies that they were opening every bag and checking it them all thoroughly.

Makes me glad I never check bags..

Maybe they were handling the bags before customs on international arrivals and that they were looking for certain bags that they new to be well loaded. And that they were actually closer to "receiving" than "stealing". To afford to pay an accomplice $2000 per shift, I can't see how they could be making enough unless it was something more like I described than like stealing from random bags

Indeed -- that makes a lot more sense than randomly searching bags. So it sounds like they were either working for a cartel to get the weed past customs, or they had some kind of inside knowledge of a cartel's shipments and were stealing them.

> or they had some kind of inside knowledge of a cartel's shipments and were stealing them.

If so, being arrested is the least of their problems.

It strikes me pretty as implausible people are smuggling cannabis into SFO.

At this very moment, my flight from Maui is headed there and I’d bet there was more smuggled on the way out of SFO than into it.

Perhaps route alone would be a pretty good indicator on account of degrees of recreational legalities?

SFO to Miami would likely have higher rate than a flight to Denver.

Nit: SFO to Devner is far more likely. The TSA has turned a blind eye to cannabis going from legal state to legal state for like a decade now.

Why would you move large amounts of marijuana from legal state to legal state by plane though?

Ignoring the mode, black market marijuana can be very much cheaper compared to legal.

The New Bootleggers! It’s a tax dodge now! Lol

> black market marijuana can be very much cheaper compared to legal

How much cheaper are we talking? Becase seeing the recreational pricing in Seattle area (which is in another legal state), I struggle to see how one can make it significantly cheaper than what is legally offered here.

Go to Illinois and you’ll soon find out. The tax on cannabis products over there is something like 30%? The edibles I buy in WA for $17 were $25 plus a $9 tax over there.

Fair point, that definitely would hold for some states. Especially those where it got legalized fairly recently, and the whole process hasn't been smoothed out yet. Illinois looks like one of those states.

For example, pricing in CO/WA/OR is so low, it makes zero sense to me to run a black market business. Even for near top-shelf stuff from big respected brands, I can easily buy a 10-pack of 10mg THC edibles (a 100mg bag total) for $12 at many dispensaries within just a 5 min drive (and that's not on sale). I've also seen some absolutely insane deals on flower and all other sorts of products, and the regular pricing is near dirt-cheap too. Not even mentioning the quality of the product and safety controls. Transporting from those states to expensive (for now) states like IL definitely makes monetary sense, as it is basically just a market arbitrage.

Anecdotally, to support your point, I heard from a friend in IL last year that lines to even enter a dispensary were very bad. While in Seattle, I've only ever seen a line once in many years (on one of the massive holiday sale days), and it was barely 5 minutes of waiting.

For the same reason you would move any good from two markets, trade

Guys, don't check large amounts of weed. Just stick it in a priority mail box and mail it to yourself at your destination. Hotels accept mail in your name!

I thought mailing weed was illegal? Is there a way to do it legally, or is this suggestion just due to the unlikelihood of getting caught?

Of course it's illegal, but if you vacuum seal it no one is going to know. Been doing it for over a decade

Pre-911, I developed the habit of not having checked bags in order to reduce the risk of my bags getting lost. Instead, I started just sending my luggage ahead to my destination using commercial parcel carriers.

Post-911, I maintain this habit, but the main benefit is avoiding the risk of theft or damage from having people paw through my bags.

Reminds me of that Keller Williams song, Doobie in my pocket

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