Security Sweep Nets Utah Airport Staffers

Sixty-nine airport workers have been indicted on charges they used false information to get jobs in secure areas at Salt Lake City International Airport, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

While U.S. Atty. Paul Warner said there was no indication of terrorist connections, most of the 69 are accused of lying to get security badges allowing them into restricted areas.

Sixty-one of those indicted are charged with using false immigration and Social Security documents to get security badges. Investigators said those 61 are in the country illegally. Many of those charged are from Venezuela, Mexico and Central America, Warner said.

Six others are U.S. citizens charged with lying about their criminal history to get the security clearance. The remaining two did not have security badges but used false information to get jobs.

Investigators identified about 200 more employees who were working with falsified credentials. They were not prosecuted because they worked in less secure areas, but they were fired.

The 69 indicted employees worked for airport subcontractors serving food, fueling aircraft, handling cargo or performing other tasks.

Operation Safe Travel, a coordinated effort by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Social Security Administration and other federal and state agencies, began in the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Salt Lake City will host the Winter Olympics in February. About $300 million has been earmarked for security, including thousands of guards, radar planes and devices to detect biological and chemical attacks.

The upcoming Winter Games lent urgency to the airport investigation, Warner said. But Salt Lake City International isn’t the only airport to purge illegal immigrants from its payroll. Officials at Denver International Airport arrested 29 Mexican citizens in mid-September for allegedly using false credentials. At Miami International Airport, 12 Latin Americans have been charged with similar offenses and eight have been deported.