JFK Heist Defendants Arraigned

By MICHELLE VELEZ

A Delta Airline baggage handler and an associate were arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court on Thursday on charges of stealing  a bag containing about $260,000 in cash from John F. Kennedy Airport.

According to the indictment, the Delta employee, Quincy Thorpe, was arrested after surveillance cameras showed him taking the bag of cash instead of loading it to Delta plane heading to Miami. Thorpe was later seen on camera giving the bag to a Springfield Gardens resident, Emmanuel Asuquo Okon, in the airport parking lot, according to the criminal complaint by FBI agent Robert Carasiti.

Both Thorpe and Okon were out on bail and pleaded  not guilty to the two charges of conspiracy to steal cargo  and one charge of stealing cargo from an airport facility. Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. granted a postponement of the speedy trial requirement for the next court date, indicating that the opposing sides were considering a plea agreement. The bag of money was still missing

The missing bag of cash was one of eight bags heading to Miami airport in the Delta Flight 1225 in September. Once the security company realized one of the bags was missing it opened an investigation involving the FBI. Suspicion fell onThorpe because he left work early the same day of the theft and called in sick the following two days.

Okon’s attorney, Douglas Rankin, told CNN,  “The case is completely circumstantial and there are no allegations of an actual crime happening”