36 nabbedin drug raid at Boeing plant
THEY BUILT military aircraft at Boeing’s sprawling Ridley Park plant in Delaware County. But authorities said yesterday that the employees were also illegally peddling and using prescription drugs such as Oxycontin and Xanax at the same time.
After a four-year undercover investigation, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment yesterday charging 23 Boeing workers with distributing oxycodone and other prescription painkillers on Boeing’s property.Authorities said that 14 others were charged with a misdemeanor - attempted possession of oxycodone and various other drugs - sold to them by their co-workers.
Most of the defendants were expected to be released on bail.
All but one of the defendants was arrested yesterday, and most still work at Boeing, although nine defendants were arrested off-site.
Boeing spokesman Damien Mills said that all the workers charged yesterday are now suspended, pending completion of an internal investigation.
A rep for United Aerospace Workers Local 1069, the union that represents Boeing workers, declined comment. (Among those charged with attempted possession of prescription painkillers was the former president of the union, Michael Patterson.)…