On-duty officer smuggling 16 ‘bricks' of cocaine is caught at Atlanta airport, feds say
When Ivan Van Beverhoudt arrived at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport from the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2020, a CBP canine alerted its handler to Beverhoudt and his bags, according to court documents.
This led officers to escort Van Beverhoudt to a CBP interview room, where they discovered cocaine packed inside his red roller bag and black hand bag, court documents say.
Now, more than five years later, a federal jury has returned a guilty verdict against Van Beverhoudt in connection with the discovery, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a Feb. 26 news release.
Van Beverhoudt, 45, of St. Thomas, was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S., importation of cocaine into the U.S., conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
His defense attorneys didn't respond to McClatchy News' request for comment Feb. 26.
Before Van Beverhoudt boarded his flight to Atlanta in January 2020, he bypassed a TSA security screening because he checked in with his CBP credentials at an airport in St. Thomas, according to court documents.
As a result, he traveled from St. Thomas to Georgia as an armed law enforcement officer, with his CBP-issued firearm, prosecutors said.
Van Beverhoudt planned to smuggle the cocaine he carried with him to Baltimore, where he was supposed to fly to after arriving in Atlanta, according to prosecutors.
His plans changed when he was caught with the narcotics at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, prosecutors said.
'Van Beverhoudt used his trusted position as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer to circumvent the law and smuggle dangerous drugs into our community,' U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie Jr. said in a statement.
'Thanks to the diligent efforts of our law enforcement partners, Van Beverhoudt is now being held accountable and faces time in federal prison,' Moultrie said.
Van Beverhoudt's sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 29, court records show.
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