A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer in Charlotte, NC transported guns and drugs throughout the state, but federal officials would soon dismantle his plot, causing the officer to get arrested and fired.
United States Attorney Andrew Murray announced on Tuesday that former TSA Officer Jamie Blunder, 50, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on drug trafficking conspiracy and gun charges. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. also sentenced Blunder to five years of supervised release.
According to filed court documents, exhibits entered at Blunder’s trial, witness testimony, and Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Blunder engaged in drug trafficking from 2002 to 2016. Blunder was part of a drug conspiracy responsible for trafficking large quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine. Blunder and his network of co-conspirators transported and distributed the narcotics in Charlotte, Greensboro, N.C., Greenville, N.C., and elsewhere.
According to court records, Blunder did not utilize the Charlotte Douglas Airport to traffic narcotics, though, at times, he relied on his TSA position to avoid law enforcement detection while travelling between and within, the Jamestown, N.C., High Point, N.C. and Greensboro areas. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized at least eight firearms, more than two kilograms of cocaine and more than $150,000 in cash.
Blunder was arrested and fired in November 2016 by federal agents. On July 7, 2017, a federal jury convicted Blunder of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Four of Blunder’s co-conspirators have already been sentenced. Aaron Dixon, 41, of Greenville, N.C., was sentenced to 75 months in prison and three years of supervised release; David Pate, 45, of High Point, was sentenced to 67 months in prison and three years of supervised release; Samuel Little, 60, of Greensboro, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and two years of supervised release; and Irvin Lampley, 58, of Greensboro, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
