A new UAL ad campaign....uh maybe not.
110 Airport Workers, Pilot, Indicted In DIA Sweep
Workers Allegedly In Country Illegally Or Falsified Job Applications
Posted: 11:42 a.m. MDT September 17, 2002
Updated: 5:58 p.m. MDT September 17, 2002
DENVER -- Federal agents were involved in a major criminal sweep through Denver International Tuesday morning, looking for 110 airport workers were indicted by a federal grand jury and who had access to restricted areas, 7NEWS reported.
By Tuesday afternoon 35 of the indicted workers had been apprehended, authorities said.
The indictments were handed up Sept. 10 and made public Tuesday. Twenty-one of the indicted workers were work supervisors, three were security workers, three were ramp workers and one is a United Airlines pilot.
7NEWS identified the pilot as Joseph Maxwell Raulins, 59 (pictured, right), of Las Vegas, who was charged with two counts of sexual assault on a child in May.
Raulins was accused of fondling two girls at a Highlands Ranch Target store. At the time of his arrest, Raulins was flying for United Airlines.
He was indicted Tuesday for using a phony social security number to obtain a security pass at DIA, 7NEWS reported.
According to the station, federal prosecutors speculated that Raulins was trying to hide his felony arrest, in order to obtain a security pass.
United Airlines was unaware of Raulins arrest and indictment, according to 7NEWS. An airline spokesman told the station that Raulins' employment status was not immediately known and he had no obligation to notify the airline of his arrest until he is convicted.
The Transportation Security Administration has been involved in detailed background checks of airport workers who have applied for and received jobs at DIA. And as a result of the background checks, the TSA has found scores of workers who may have falsified information on their applications for employment, 7NEWS reported.
According to one federal source, these include both immigrants and U.S.-born airport workers who may have lied about their backgrounds or identities, including using bogus social security numbers on their applications.
Federal officials teamed up with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Social Security office to conduct the raid early Tuesday morning. The arrests were not made in public, and the raid did not affect any security wait times or flight departures at DIA, airport officials said.
According to 7NEWS, all of those detained had some type of security clearance and had access to restricted areas.
Some of those arrested work for the concessions, some worked for the airports, and some were even security screeners, 7NEWS reported.
The sweep was part of a national security investigation in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, but none of the airport workers was suspected of terrorist-related crimes, U.S. Attorney John Suthers said.
"If they had obtained a security badge with terrorist intentions, they could have done an awful lot," he said.
None of the workers were employed by the city and county of Denver.
Similar raids have been conducted recently in Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle and 16 other airports around the country, 7NEWS reported.
The national sweeps began after Sept. 11, 2001 and netted hundreds of employees with access to high-security areas at U.S. airports.
The raids uncovered immigration violations and document fraud, but no terrorist connections were found.
DIA is the 20th airport involved in the operation, which eventually will be conducted at all 429 commercial airports in the country, officials said.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey in October ordered background checks of an estimated 750,000 airport and airline employees who could enter secured areas of airports. The checks are supposed to be completed by December.
Previous Stories:
May 9, 2002: Children Molested While Shopping
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
110 Airport Workers, Pilot, Indicted In DIA Sweep
Workers Allegedly In Country Illegally Or Falsified Job Applications
Posted: 11:42 a.m. MDT September 17, 2002
Updated: 5:58 p.m. MDT September 17, 2002
DENVER -- Federal agents were involved in a major criminal sweep through Denver International Tuesday morning, looking for 110 airport workers were indicted by a federal grand jury and who had access to restricted areas, 7NEWS reported.
By Tuesday afternoon 35 of the indicted workers had been apprehended, authorities said.
The indictments were handed up Sept. 10 and made public Tuesday. Twenty-one of the indicted workers were work supervisors, three were security workers, three were ramp workers and one is a United Airlines pilot.
7NEWS identified the pilot as Joseph Maxwell Raulins, 59 (pictured, right), of Las Vegas, who was charged with two counts of sexual assault on a child in May.
Raulins was accused of fondling two girls at a Highlands Ranch Target store. At the time of his arrest, Raulins was flying for United Airlines.
He was indicted Tuesday for using a phony social security number to obtain a security pass at DIA, 7NEWS reported.
According to the station, federal prosecutors speculated that Raulins was trying to hide his felony arrest, in order to obtain a security pass.
United Airlines was unaware of Raulins arrest and indictment, according to 7NEWS. An airline spokesman told the station that Raulins' employment status was not immediately known and he had no obligation to notify the airline of his arrest until he is convicted.
The Transportation Security Administration has been involved in detailed background checks of airport workers who have applied for and received jobs at DIA. And as a result of the background checks, the TSA has found scores of workers who may have falsified information on their applications for employment, 7NEWS reported.
According to one federal source, these include both immigrants and U.S.-born airport workers who may have lied about their backgrounds or identities, including using bogus social security numbers on their applications.
Federal officials teamed up with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Social Security office to conduct the raid early Tuesday morning. The arrests were not made in public, and the raid did not affect any security wait times or flight departures at DIA, airport officials said.
According to 7NEWS, all of those detained had some type of security clearance and had access to restricted areas.
Some of those arrested work for the concessions, some worked for the airports, and some were even security screeners, 7NEWS reported.
The sweep was part of a national security investigation in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, but none of the airport workers was suspected of terrorist-related crimes, U.S. Attorney John Suthers said.
"If they had obtained a security badge with terrorist intentions, they could have done an awful lot," he said.
None of the workers were employed by the city and county of Denver.
Similar raids have been conducted recently in Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle and 16 other airports around the country, 7NEWS reported.
The national sweeps began after Sept. 11, 2001 and netted hundreds of employees with access to high-security areas at U.S. airports.
The raids uncovered immigration violations and document fraud, but no terrorist connections were found.
DIA is the 20th airport involved in the operation, which eventually will be conducted at all 429 commercial airports in the country, officials said.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey in October ordered background checks of an estimated 750,000 airport and airline employees who could enter secured areas of airports. The checks are supposed to be completed by December.
Previous Stories:
May 9, 2002: Children Molested While Shopping
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
