U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Pernell Anthony Jones, Jr., 32, of Kenner, was sentenced today for scamming airlines out of $550,000 in false lost baggage claims.
According to court documents, beginning in 2015, Jones took commercial flights with airlines under false identities and fake identification cards. When he arrived at the destination airport, Jones falsely claimed that his baggage was lost and requested reimbursement to compensate him for his lost luggage.
Through this scheme, Jones and his co-conspirators submitted over 180 false claims to commercial airlines, including American, Alaska, Southwest, United, and JetBlue, in an amount of more than $550,000 worth of reimbursement claims.
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Jones’s plea documents state that, on April 7, 2018, Jones was arrested at Dallas Love Airport while attempting to go through TSA screening with 36 fake driver’s licenses and 47 credit cards under fictitious names.
On March 5, 2020, Jones was arrested again while attempting to pick up a reimbursement check for a fraudulent baggage claim at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana.
The DOJ says law enforcement searched Jones’s home on March 5, 2020 and found 34 fake driver’s licenses; 21 fake work identification cards, and a number of fraudulent airline employee badges containing Jones’s photograph.
U. S. District Court Judge Susie Morgan sentenced Jones to serve 46 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.