Firm that transports prisoners the real CONAIR in court.

The arrest of Eric Scott Kindley, 39, was part of an FBI airport security initiative that has led to the filing of four criminal cases in the last few months, prosecutors said. Kindley surrendered to federal law enforcement, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He is president of Court Services Inc., a Riverside-based company that transports prisoners. Kindley and an employee, Gary Douglas Garratt, 54, of Mountain View, were named in a federal grand jury indictment last Friday. The indictment alleges Kindley instructed Garratt to transport a prisoner from Phoenix to Honolulu. When the airline advised Kindley that two armed law enforcement officers must accompany a prisoner on flights longer than four hours, Kindley instructed Garratt to drive to Los Angeles and take a flight from there. On March 15, Garratt and a co-worker went to Los Angeles International Airport with the prisoner, but were again told about the law enforcement officer requirement, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. That night, Kindley gave Garratt a handgun. The next morning, as Garratt attempted to board the unidentified commercial airliner, he was stopped. The gun was not registered to him or Kindley and he was not a sworn law enforcement officer, Garratt, who was arrested last year, and Kindley are expected to be arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles. If convicted of conspiracy and attempting to bring a handgun on to a commercial airplane, they face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.
Charles Aaron Smith, 38, of Camarillo, and Ricky Gene Boyd, 52, of Redlands. Smith was charged in December with attempting to bring a gun onto an airplane while claiming to be a retired police officer from Iowa. According to court documents, Smith arrived at LAX in January 2007 to board a flight to Atlanta. Prosecutors said he was stopped at the security checkpoint after an X-ray showed a handgun in his carry-on bag. Smith then falsely identified himself as a Lawler County police officer and presented a fake "retired police officer" identification card that purportedly allowed him to carry a concealed weapon, prosecutors said. When asked about the law enforcement credentials, Smith called Boyd, who then lied to airport officials by telling them that Smith was a retired police officer. Smith struck a deal and is set to enter his guilty plea Feb. 22 in Los Angeles. He faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced. Boyd, who made the bogus credential for Smith, pleaded guilty in November to charges of transporting a false identification document. He faces up to five years in federal prison at his Feb. 25 sentencing hearing. "It should be common sense that private citizens cannot bring firearms onto airplanes ," said U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien. "Security at our airports and in the air is a top priority for law enforcement, who should not have to contend with armed civilians or be distracted by bogus threats."