Two United Airlines cargo agents at San Francisco International Airport orchestrated a years-long scheme to steal marijuana from departing passengers’ luggage and then raked in as much as $10,000 per week selling the contraband, the feds said.
Joel Lamont Dunn was described as the mastermind and Adrian Webb his “right hand man” behind the brazen ring involving other cargo agents at the airport, according to a criminal complaint filed with the US District Court of Northern California on June 9.
According to the feds, an informant who had “knowledge of the conspiracy to steal marijuana” was working alongside Dunn and Webb as a ramp cargo agent when the alleged scheme was hatched in 2020.
The informant told the feds that Dunn approached them “to assist with stealing marijuana from checked baggage” at SFO.
The informant was paid around $2,000 in cash per shift “or more if large quantities were taken that day,” according to the criminal complaint.
It is unclear who was transporting such vast amounts of marijuana through airport security.
The informant told investigators that Dunn was “the leader of the operation” while Webb “appeared to be [his] right hand man and gave directions when Dunn was not around,” according to the complaint.
The two have been charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and released on bail. Dunn’s bail was set $75,000 and Webb’s at $50,00, court records show. A trial date has not yet been set.
Dunn and Webb were not immediately available for comment.
The Post has sought comment from United Airlines.
The pair surfaced on the feds’ radar after they were “robbed at gunpoint in the employee parking lot of SFO near their personal vehicles,” according to the complaint.
Video surveillance footage from shortly before the robbery shows Dunn, Webb, and other employees “move black trash bags out of the secure area airport, consistent with the marijuana theft scheme,” according to the criminal complaint.
Neither Dunn or Webb reported to the police that marijuana was robbed from them, the feds alleged.
In October of last year, the feds, acting on a tip from their sources, intercepted two individuals who “exited the secure area of the airport with a cart carrying two large boxes, and a large black plastic bag on top of the boxes, and headed to the G-side of the International Garage,” the complaint alleged.
Federal investigators uncovered 14 kilograms — or 30 pounds — of marijuana, it was alleged.
The two individuals who were intercepted were frequently seen with Dunn and Webb in surveillance footage, according to the criminal complaint.