A former Delta Airlines employee and his friend accused of stealing a bag containing more than $258,000 from JFK Airport were cleared in Monday’s robbery.
A Brooklyn federal court jury took less than an hour to deliver a not guilty verdict against former Delta ground services employee Quincy Thorpe and his friend, Emanuel Asuquo Okon, following a three-day trial in which prosecutors tried to pin the Sept. 24, 2019 theft on the pair.
“It was the right thing to do — good night,” a juror told The Post in the courtroom hallway.
Thorpe and Okon each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of looting — which the feds can’t recover.
“We’re going to go find him now,” Thorpe joked as he left court with Okon and their attorney.
Prosecutors have relied heavily on crude surveillance video from JFK that allegedly showed a step-by-step plan for Thorpe, then a 22-year-old airline employee, who worked on the runway and was responsible for loading eight bags onto US Delta Flight 1225. and foreign cash coming from cruise ships.
The jury took less than an hour to decide on the not guilty verdict of Quincy Thorpe and Emanuel Asuquo Okon. Getty Images
But a mountain of footage – and prosecutors’ claims that Thorpe and Okon “made a huge mistake” by leaving evidence in the getaway car – did not appear to convince jurors.
“The video worked on them. It doesn’t show what they claim the video shows,” Thorpe’s attorney, Lonnie Hart Jr., said after the verdict was handed down.
“It’s just that none of the videos show any criminal acts being committed, nothing. Period.”
Quincy Thorpe and Emmanuel Asuquo Okon on the first day of their trial after being accused of stealing a bag containing more than $250K sent from JFK to Miami by Loomis.Gabriella Bass
Hart Jr., in his closing statement earlier Monday, urged jurors not to be fooled by prosecutors’ “theory” that Thorpe was an “insider” in the scheme since he worked in international airport security and was responsible for bags being loaded onto flights.
Earlier in the trial, he claimed Thorpe had been made a “scapegoat” for the “embarrassment” suffered by Delta and security and handling company Loomis – which was tasked with protecting the cash.
But prosecutors argued Thorpe and Okon stole “valuable cargo” and then took steps to “cover their tracks.”
But the two “left strong evidence of the crime” — a Delta cargo tag for the money delivery and a receipt from Loomis — in Okon’s car, prosecutor John Vagelatos told jurors.
Prosecutors rely on gross surveillance video to make their case.Gabriella Bass
Prosecutors allege Thorpe drove one of the stolen bags on a trailer to a remote airport parking lot where no buildings or cameras were around and transferred it to a white van.
He then had another airline employee drive him in a white van to meet Okon in the public section of the airport where he exchanged the bag — and then returned to work to avoid suspicion while his accomplice drove away, the feds allege.
Both Thorpe and Okon were arrested a week after the alleged robbery when the FBI found Okon’s car.
Douglas Rankin (right) and Lonnie Hart Jr. (left) is the lawyer representing the two delta workers. Gabriella Bass
Hart Jr. and Okon’s lawyer, Douglas Rankin, claimed that the prosecution had presented a weak case, saying the testimony of one of the government’s witnesses, the driver of the white van, Jeremy Hollingsworth, was not in their favor.
Hollingsworth testified that he saw Thorpe carrying a personal bag – not the four-foot cargo bag that carried the missing cash.
Thorpe said he has been on long-term disability with Delta — and his lawyers hinted that they will consider taking legal action against the airline after they “serve it up to the feds.”
“We will pursue all legal remedies available to us. We feel like Delta treated him like I said in my opening as the scapegoat. So, we’re going to explore our legal options again,” Hart Jr. said.
Thorpe, who quickly covered his face and hugged his lawyer, broke down in tears shortly after the verdict, thanking the jury as they left the courtroom.
He said he was ready to move on with his life.
“I am happy to be alive again. It’s been four years; I was at a standstill and I just wanted to take part and move forward,” said Thorpe, beaming.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
