Delta Airlines worker and friend accused of stealing bag containing more than $258,000 from JFK Airport are CLEARED by jury after less than an hour of deliberations

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A former Delta Airlines worker and his close friend stood accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from a Miami-bound flight - but were cleared of all charges after a jury deliberated for less than an hour.

Quincy Thorpe, 40, and Emmanuel Asuquo Okon, 32, walked into Brooklyn Federal Court on September 18 only to leave soon after, as the jury was unconvinced by evidence including security footage and receipts found in a car belonging to Okon's partner.

The money was part of a cash shipment from a cruise ship to be loaded onto Delta Flight 1225 from Kennedy Airport to Florida. Thorpe was responsible for loading eight bags packed with US and foreign currency onto the plane.

When the cash went missing, investigators accused Thorpe of driving away with one of the stolen bags and transferring it to a white van, before meeting Okon in the public side of the airport and swapping the bag out.

The FBI found the car with documents including a Delta waybill five days after the heist and arrested both men. Thorpe appeared in federal court the same day he was arrested at his home in Brooklyn.

The pair would have faced 10 years in prison if convicted - but walked free on Monday.

Quincy Thorpe, a former Delta baggage handler, walked into Brooklyn federal court for closing arguments in his moneybag trial on September 18

He was joined by longtime friend Emmanuel Okon, who was accused of smuggling the cash from the airport

Attorneys were also seen entering the courthouse. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before reaching the not guilty verdict

The defense argued that the duo had been falsely accused, with Thorpe's lawyer blaming the airline for making a scapegoat out of his client for the 'embarrassment' it suffered.

The story started on September 24 2019, when authorities claimed Thorpe stole the money on the tarmac while the plane was being loaded and transferred it to a van in a remote part of the airport.

The van was driven by a third person, James Hollingsworth, who was not a defendant in the case. Hollingsworth and Thorpe left the money with Okon, who then smuggled it out of JFK.

Prosecutors relied heavily on security footage that tracked the men's movements around the airport - but the jury decided the video was not incriminating.

'The videos worked against them. It just didn’t show what they claimed that the video showed,' Thorpe’s attorney, Lonnie Hart Jr., told the New York Post following the verdict.

Court documents allege that Thorpe, a luggage handler for the airline, scanned and loaded seven bags onto the flight before swiping the eighth one from an armored truck.

Employees from Loomis, the cash handling company, realized one of the bags was missing once the flight landed in Miami. This prompted an investigation by Port Authority police and the FBI.

Thorpe was identified after co-workers said he went home sick around the time of the theft. Over the next two days, Thorpe called Delta Ground Services to say he would not be coming to work.

He appeared briefly in court and was released on $80,000 bond co-signed by his sister.

Delta released a statement after Thorpe was suspended, reading in part: 'The alleged actions of this employee are unacceptable and in no way reflect the professionalism and values we expect from Delta team members.'

The airline confirmed it was working with authorities as well as conducting a separate internal investigation.

Authorities found documents in the car allegedly driven by Okon including receipts from cash transfer company Loomis

A 'manifest recap' reading '$257,991' was among the files recovered 

An air waybill reading 'Piece 8 of 8' with the Delta logo was also retrieved

The bill showed that the cargo was travelling from New York to Miami and belonged to Loomis

Photos of the receipts in the car were presented to the jury, intended to show the men's guilt

Okon was positively identified by a witness as the man driving the blue Nissan Sentra

Documents allege the car belonged to his partner, Ayanna Giddens, an NYPD cop with nearly 30 years of experience

Surveillance footage showed Thorpe's movements on the day of the alleged heist

The defense argued that the videos did not show any criminal acts, particularly in relation to Thorpe, who was on the tarmac at the time

Okon, the alleged getaway driver, was positively identified by a witness who pointed out his telltale beard.

Security surveillance showed that he was driving a blue Nissan Sentra. Okon’s domestic partner, Ayanna Giddens, owned the same car.

Her name appears on search warrants from the US Attorney's Office.

According to court documents filed September of last year, Okon 'intentionally and unlawfully' took 'a stolen bag containing United States and foreign currency of approximately $258,205 in value,' which he intended to use himself.

Giddens, an NYPD sergeant with 26 years of experience, consented to a search of her car.

It yielded an envelope containing a Delta Airlines Cargo Air Waybill for Delta Flight 1226 that read 'Piece 8 of 8' as well as receipts from Loomis International.

Okon's filed a motion in March 2021 to suppress the fruits of the September 29, 2019 search but it was swiftly denied.

The men appeared in court on September 13 of this year.

Prosecutor John Vagelatos said the defendants made a 'tremendous mistake' in leaving behind 'hard evidence of the crime.' 

He alleged Thorpe snatched the eighth bag, drove it in a trailer to a remote airport parking lot with no cameras around and transferred it to the van.

He and Hollingsworth drove the van to meet Okon on the public side of the airport and handed him the money. Okon then drove Thorpe back to the airport to finish his shift, the prosecutor said.

However, Hart argued that his client was 'a scapegoat for someone else’s incompetence.'

'Someone has to pay for it and the convenient person in this case is my client, Quincy Thorpe, because he was, in fact, in charge of loading that particular flight,' he said.

The lawyer instead pointed a finger at Hollingsworth, the driver of the van, calling him the 'actual perpetrator.'

Okon’s lawyer, Douglas Rankin, also argued that his client had been mistakenly accused despite the car belonging to his partner.

'Whether it was Miami, whether it was New York, money got stolen. A quarter of a million dollars, somebody gets arrested and prosecuted, and it’s not always the right somebody,' Rankin said.

Five witnesses took the stand, including three Delta Airlines workers.

One had been loading the plane the day of the theft; another was a station manager who was called to the plane in Miami after the eighth bag was found to be missing; and the third was a director of operations who explained how the company tracks which employees scan cargo.

Also present was a Port Authority officer who watched the surveillance footage showing the cars used to smuggle the bag from the airport and the Loomis Armored Truck guard who took the bags to JFK before they were swiped.

The prosecution relied heavily on a series of videos that tracked Thorpe and Okon's movements the day of the theft.