Officials: OIA Airline Worker Agreed To Smuggle Guns To Puerto Rico
34-Year-Old Man Arrested In Sting Operation
POSTED: Wednesday, August 1, 2007
UPDATED: 5:06 pm EDT August 1,
2007
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- A man arrested near Orlando International Airport on Tuesday night is a JetBlue Airways employee who planned to smuggle guns to Puerto Rico, according to officials. Hiram Rivera Ortiz, 34, was arrested at about 6 p.m. at a Denny's located on Semoran Boulevard about a mile from Orlando International Airport in a sting operation. Ortiz accepted four handguns and two machine guns from undercover agents and agreed to transport the weapons to Puerto Rico for about $5,000, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials said. Ortiz was ordered held without bail in Orlando. He is scheduled to have detention and status hearings on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the federal courthouse. "JetBlue has and will continue to cooperate fully with the Orlando Police Department and other agencies in this investigation. The crewmember involved in this incident has been removed from all duties. JetBlue cannot comment on the details of a law enforcement investigation but will continue to cooperate fully with all agencies involved," airline officials said in a statement. Earlier this year, Thomas Munoz, 22, a Comair employee, smuggled more than a dozen guns past security and onto an airplane bound for Puerto Rico. Munoz pleaded guilty in a Puerto Rico courtroom on Monday to the gun-smuggling charges, Local 6 News reported. Four others involved in the operation are still facing charges. After the incident, no airport employee is allowed to enter a secure area without full screening conducted by Transportation Security Administration officers. A Local 6 Problem Solvers investigation showed OIA employees entering secure areas without being screened. Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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