"2 more held in OIA sting"

Saturday, March 10, 2007

2 more held in OIA sting
Probe of drug, gun ring based at airport widens
By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez and Beth Kassab
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel 

 
As authorities stepped up employee checks and security patrols at Orlando
International Airport, a federal judge Friday ordered two cousins arrested
in a widening probe of drug dealing and gunrunning be held without bail.

Jeffrey Lorenzano Cruz and Joel Eliut Matos Cruz, both of Orange County, are
the latest targets of federal authorities who are dismantling an OIA-based
group that they say is responsible for shipping drugs and guns to Puerto
Rico.

The men were arrested late Thursday by FBI agents in a sting operation in
which authorities said they agreed to sell 2.2 pounds of cocaine, 1 1/2
ounces of heroin and a .40-caliber Taurus handgun with a silencer to an
undercover agent.

At their initial appearances, the two were ordered by U.S. Magistrate David
Baker to be jailed until a hearing next week. To represent them, Baker also
appointed attorneys Jeff Dowdy and David Wilson -- neither of whom would
comment.

The cousins were arrested two days after federal agents arrested Zabdiel
Santiago-Balaguer, 22, in Kissimmee. An airline worker, Santiago-Balaguer is
accused of leading the OIA smuggling ring with links to Puerto Rico. Agents
say the case is ongoing and that more arrests are possible.

The case began to unravel when authorities in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
arrested 22-year-old Thomas Anthony Munoz on Monday when he stepped off a
flight from Orlando. In his carry-on duffel bag, they found 13 guns, a
semi-automatic assault rifle and 8 pounds of marijuana.

Munoz and Santiago-Balaguer boarded a flight to the island together Monday
morning, but a tip received by the Orlando police airport division led
officers to pull Santiago-Balaguer off the plane at the last minute.

According to a criminal complaint, Santiago-Balaguer recruited Jeffrey Cruz,
27, to transport marijuana to his contacts on the island. In December, the
complaint says, he was paid $800 by Santiago-Balaguer to smuggle 20 pounds
of marijuana. His cousin, Joel Matos Cruz, 20, was identified as the "owner
of the drugs" and agreed to accompany Jeffrey Cruz "for a couple hundred
dollars." The arrests took place in a Sam's Wholesale Club parking lot on
South Orange Blossom Trail on Thursday evening.

After the arrest, Jeffrey Cruz told agents that Santiago-Balaguer shipped 20
pounds of marijuana twice a month to his contacts in Puerto Rico. Munoz told
agents in Puerto Rico earlier this week that he was recruited by
Santiago-Balaguer, who offered him $4,000 to $5,000 for the Monday trip.

"Jeffrey Lorenzano Cruz knew Balaguer used his knowledge of airport security
and access to secured areas in the Orlando International Airport to
circumvent security with contraband," FBI agent Michael Henry wrote in a
complaint.

Santiago-Balaguer and Munoz were fired Friday as customer-service employees,
Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx said. Jeffrey Cruz also was recently fired from
Comair, a Delta Air Lines subsidiary, she said.

Munoz, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty Friday in San Juan's federal court,
where a judge ordered him held without bail. "We believe he is a small cog
in a much bigger scheme," Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Mosley said.

On Friday, Lt. Brian Gilliam -- deputy commander of the Orlando police
airport division -- said an anonymous tip led officers to ask Delta Air
Lines to hold the San Juan-bound plane at the gate at about 10:30 a.m.
Monday. The caller gave them Santiago-Balaguer's name and said he was
carrying "contraband."

Crew members on Delta Flight 933 handed Santiago-Balaguer and his two
carry-on bags to police, he said. The plane's door then closed, and the
plane pulled away for its scheduled 11 a.m. departure, Gilliam said. He said
both the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration were notified of
the call.

When Santiago-Balaguer was searched and questioned and nothing was found,
Gilliam said, they let him go.

Authorities say Santiago-Balaguer and Munoz were able to evade regular TSA
checkpoints by accessing OIA's restricted areas with their airport-employee
badges about 3 a.m. Monday. At that hour, documents say, they hid the black
duffel bag near the Delta flight's departure gate for later retrieval.

In response to the security breach, OIA officials said the airport has set
up law-enforcement teams that now patrol employee areas and baggage rooms
day and night to check ID badges and look for "unusual activity."

In addition, the airport is working with airlines to trim the number of
employees with access to "critical areas," said Chris Schmidt, the airport's
deputy executive director. Schmidt would not say exactly how many employees
in which areas have had their access curtailed since this week's arrests.

"We're watching at all times," Schmidt said. "We don't discuss details, but
rest assured what action we take, we will take 24-7."

He emphasized that the airport's ability to connect the dots between the two
suspects led to their capture. "The fact is that the suspects were stopped
because of technology this airport has in place today," Schmidt said.

Schmidt said the airport did not discuss its actions earlier this week
because TSA and FBI officials said that would interfere with the ongoing
investigation.

"We're not happy that it happened, but it happened," he said of the
incident.

Questions remain about why the plane was allowed to leave without further
searches when incidents with far less severity have historically held up
flights.

For example, in January, a passenger with two hunting knives in his carry-on
luggage temporarily shut down security operations for about a half-hour when
he left the screening checkpoint before a TSA officer could search his bag.

And in September, a security checkpoint was shut down and trains to the
boarding gates were halted because a passenger's grenade-shaped belt buckle
set off alarms and he, too, wandered off before an officer could screen him
more thoroughly.

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