Three charged with airport drug smuggling

ATLANTA, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A U.S. grand jury has indicted three Georgia men on charges relating to a drug-smuggling operation at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

U.S. Attorney David Nahmias identified one of the men as an employee of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and another of Delta Air Lines, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administraiton said in a news release.

The indictment charges TSA employee Jon Patton, 44, and Leslie Adgar, 42, with conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin. Andre Mays, a Delta Air Lines employee, is charged with drug conspiracy and attempting to distribute cocaine.

Investigators allege Patton brokered a deal with a confidential DEA source to move 4.4 pounds of cocaine from Atlanta to New York. He allegedly enlisted the help of Mays to get a carry-on bag with the cocaine to Adgar who boarded a Delta flight for New York and handed it to the DEA source, the DEA release said.

"This indictment should serve as a cautionary tale for others who would betray the trust the public places in the front-line workers at our nation's airports," Nahmias said.