9/28/2021- 4:34 p.m.
Louisiana – man faces up to 20 years in prison for making $300,000 in five years by filing 180 false lost baggage claims with a number of different US airlines.
Pernell Anthony Jones Jr., 31, of Kenner, Louisiana, has filed for a total of $550,000 in refunds from American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines since 2015, according to court documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
He carried out the plan by booking commercial flights to or from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport using fake IDs bearing his photo with a fictitious name. Jones would pay for the flights with preloaded gift cards to prevent the purchases from being traced back to him.
When making claims for lost luggage, Jones provided the addresses of at least seven different friends or associates so that the airlines could send the refund checks. Police identified one of those friends as Donmonick Martin, 29, of Chalmette, Louisiana, who accepted checks at least four times.
Martin also allowed Jones to use his PayPal account to accept payments from JetBlue, the documents claimed. He faces up to five years in prison for his role in the scheme.
On one occasion, in January 2020, Martin attempted Jones’ own plan by going to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and claiming that American Airlines had lost his luggage, according to court documents. It is not clear whether his false claim was successful.
He implemented the scheme by booking commercial flights to or from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport using fake IDs that included his photo with a fictitious name
When claiming lost luggage, Jones provided the addresses of at least seven different friends or associates so that the airlines could send the refund checks.
When Jones made his claims, he would give airlines a list of expensive items he said were in his lost luggage bags and ensure the prices would be $3,500 — the maximum amount airlines are legally allowed to reimburse for lost luggage.
Prosecutors said Jones was so brutal about his plan that sometimes he wouldn’t even bring a bag to the airport, but still got a ticket for a checked-in item and made the false claims.
He was arrested on March 19, 2020, and on the same day, he had 22 fake driver’s licenses sent from China to Martin’s home. It is not clear why he sent the IDs to Martin from China or whether this was the reason he was arrested that day.
Jones is charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He faces a $250,000 fine and up to 20 years in prison
Martin was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
The court documents do not reveal how airlines became suspicious of the two men’s actions or what led to their arrests.
In 2020, according to the Department of Transportation’s Travel Consumer Report, U.S. airlines mishandled about four bags for every 1,000 checked in. Of the 209 million bags checked in the same year, only five percent were never returned to their owners.
