Ex-fire chief's son, ex-TSA agents to plead guilty in drug scheme
The son of a former L.A. city fire chief and two former TSA officers have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges after they worked together to smuggle drugs onto flights leaving LAX, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Millage Peaks IV, 24, of Los Angeles; Randy Littlefield, 29, of Paramount; and Dianna Perez, 28, of Inglewood, face a maximum of five years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
According to documents filed in federal court Tuesday, Peaks -- the son of ex-fire chief Millage Peaks III, who retired last year -- initiated the scheme by offering to pay Perez, then a Transportation Security Administration employee, about $500 for passing a bag of marijuana through Los Angeles International Airport security in November 2010.
Perez would typically screen the bags herself but Littlefield stepped in at least twice in exchange for $200, the documents said.
Perez and Peaks were arrested in October 2011 after a baggage handler smelled marijuana in the luggage and alerted authorities, who found 14 pounds of marijuana inside.
Perez was fired from her TSA job in October; Littlefield resigned the same month.
Two other men who carried drugs through security -- Charles Hicks, 24, of Culver City, and Andrew Welter, 25, of Fontana -- have also agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy for their roles in the scheme, according to documents filed in federal district court. They also face up to five years in prison.
All five are due in court in August, prosecutors said.
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— Kate Mather
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