A Jet Blue baggage handler at Kennedy airport reportedly admitted stealing an NYPD sergeant's gun from her luggage and then throwing it away in a Queens sewer when he came under suspicion, officials said Friday.
Port Authority police arrested 21-year-old Tamarcus Hines of Rosedale after he allegedly confessed to stealing the sergeant's .9mm handgun, which had been packed in a locked gun box inside her suitcase and lawfully checked in for her flight to Orlando last week, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Hines, who has worked for Jet Blue for a year, is charged with taking the sergeant's gun, holster and ammunition, which were all recovered from the sewer after he reportedly confessed, Brown said.
"It is upsetting that a passenger who buys an airline ticket and lawfully checks her luggage – in this case a secured, legally possessed handgun – has been subjected to having her belongings stolen," Brown said. "This case is, however, especially egregious in that the defendant is alleged to have brazenly stolen a 9mm handgun that had been properly secured by its owner, a sergeant with the New York City Police Department.”
Hines was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal mischief and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, officials said.
