Flight attendant 'ditched cocaine at LAX'

A former Jamaican beauty queen turned flight attendant is expected to plead guilty to trying to sneak a suitcase of cocaine through Los Angeles airport.

A former JetBlue flight attendant accused of trying to sneak a suitcase with 27 kilos of cocaine through Los Angeles International Airport and then making a dramatic dash to escape is set to plead guilty.

Marsha Gay Reynolds, 32, is expected to plead guilty to conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, according to court documents. A conviction carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

Reynolds, a US citizen and resident of Queens, New York, is a former Jamaican beauty queen and New York University track athlete.

Bundles of cocaine were found in the bag she abandoned March 18 when she flung off her high heels and bolted after being flagged for a random security screening, authorities said. She ran down an upward-moving escalator and out of the terminal. She took a JetBlue flight the next day to New York, where she surrendered days later.

An lawyer for Reynolds said she might not have been sure what was in her bag.

But a plea agreement filed on Friday says Reynolds was getting paid thousands of dollars to help smuggle drugs and money through airport security at LAX and John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.