Ex-TSA Officer Gets Nearly 6 Years in Prison in LAX Drug Case
LOS ANGELES—A former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer was sentenced Dec. 9 to 70 months in federal prison for smuggling what he believed was meth through Los Angeles International Airport in exchange for $8,000.
Michael Williams, 39, of Hawthorne, pleaded guilty in June to one federal count of attempting to distribute methamphetamine.
Williams was arrested in 2020 after authorities conducted undercover operations involving Williams, whom they suspected of helping smuggle narcotics past security checkpoints at LAX.
Travelers enter a new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening area during the opening of the Terminal 1 expansion at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, on June 4, 2021. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
During the investigation, Williams met with a drug source to exchange meth in the days prior leading up to his shifts at LAX, court papers filed in LA federal court show….