LaGuardia workers busted for
stealing mini-bottles of booze
NEW YORK (AP) - Eleven workers at New York's LaGuardia
Airport were charged with stealing about 400,000 mini-bottles
of scotch, cognac and rum from an airport storage facility.
Over the last year, the men stole about $1.5 million US
worth of liquor, including Dewar's scotch, Courvoisier cognac
and Bacardi rum, District Attorney Richard Brown said Wednesday.
Nine of the men worked as truck drivers or beverage assemblers
for Sky Chef, a food and drink supplier that caters to airlines
serving LaGuardia, while the other two were a supervisor
and a warehouseman employed by North American Aviation,
authorities said.
The mini-bottles of liquor are served to airplane passengers
during flights.
The men took the bottles from a storage building at the
airport and loaded them into their own vehicles, the DA
said. The bottles were later sold to neighbourhood delis
and retail stores, he said.
While each case of 190 mini-bottles is valued at about
$760, the stolen cases were sold to stores for about $240,
Brown said. The mini-bottles were then allegedly sold individually
for about $1.25; in flight the 50-millilitre bottles are
sold for $4 each.
The defendants even took liquor orders from the stores,
said Robert Van Etten, inspector-general of the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York's airports.
The suspects face various charges, including grand larceny,
criminal possession of stolen property and conspiracy. Some
could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
In a similar case two years ago, four men were charged
with stealing $1.5 million worth of liquor bottles from
John F. Kennedy International Airport.
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