A Jamaican national accused of supplying a JetBlue flight attendant with nearly 60 pounds of cocaine that she attempted to smuggle onto a plane at Los Angeles International Airport will go on trial in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday.
Gaston Brown, 40, faces one federal count each of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. If convicted as charged, he would face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum possible life sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
When indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury in January 2017, Brown was serving a one-year federal prison sentence after being convicted in the Southern District of Florida of illegal re-entry after deportation. A judge then issued a writ directing that Brown be brought to Los Angeles for trial on the cocaine charges.
Brown allegedly supplied the drugs to Marsha Gay Reynolds, a former JetBlue flight attendant, who pleaded guilty in December 2016 to federal drug charges and admitted she attempted to bring the narcotics through a security checkpoint at LAX by using her "known crewmember" credentials.
Reynolds, 32, of Queens, New York, gained national media attention when she abandoned her carry-on bags at a security checkpoint on March 18, 2016, kicked off her heels and dashed out of the airport when pulled aside for a baggage search.
