Advertisement

Former Playboy model, private pilot arrested in drug bust

Bags of Ecstasy seized in a drug raid in 2000. Authorities seized $2 million worth of the drug in pill and powder form at John Wayne Airport Oct. 9.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Share

In a bust that seemed straight out of a potboiler crime movie, a former Playboy model and a private pilot were arrested as they allegedly dropped off drugs and cash into a waiting rental car at an Orange County airport, according to a federal court affidavit.

The arrest of Krista Boseley, a model turned Realtor, and Gilles Lapointe, took place on Oct. 9 at John Wayne Airport.

The pair had flown into Orange County just after noon on a plane that law enforcement officials said was likely part of a drug trafficking network. When the pair stepped off the plane and checked in at a rental car office, sheriff’s deputies and drug and border enforcement agents closed in.

Advertisement

The pair didn’t resist and allowed authorities to search their bags and the plane, court documents show.

Boseley, 30, had a wad of cash in her Louis Vuitton purse that she said was $7,500 in winnings from a night of gambling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Lapointe, 61, told authorities the $13,000 in cash in his backpack also represented Bellagio winnings, the affidavit shows.

But if the two had an explanation for the estimated $2 million worth of MDMA found in bags and a suitcase on the plane and in the car, it was not evident in court documents.

Inside the luggage were nearly 50 vacuum-sealed bags with 50,000 pills of the drug Ecstasy and 40 kilos of raw MDMA, according to the affidavit. A GPS tracking detector — which would alert someone if law enforcement had placed a GPS device on the plane — was also found on board, officials said.

The pair were charged with federal conspiracy to distribute MDMA and are scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 27.

To bolster the argument that the two were engaged in drug trafficking, authorities noted in the affidavit that Boseley was stopped in Los Angeles in 2013 carrying $40,000 in cash. She told police the money belonged to someone else. Along with the cash, police reportedly found a plane refueling receipt from an airport in Goleta. The aircraft belonged to Lapointe.

Advertisement

Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials said much of the Ecstasy they find can be traced back to Canada.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.

Advertisement