An employee of Southwest Airlines has been charged with theft after reportedly printing nearly $80,000 worth of travel vouchers.

Brooklyn Jones, who works as a customer service agent at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, allegedly printed flight vouchers using the names of previous customers and redeemed them for his own use. This was uncovered during an internal investigation by Southwest, according to a complaint obtained by YSL News on Friday.

Documents indicate that Jones admitted to the allegations in a written confession to Southwest and agreed to return the vouchers he had, but he pleaded not guilty to the felony charges on Thursday.

Jones’ attorney, Bert Fulk, commented that the state’s claims are largely based on a “probable cause statement that seems to depend significantly on third-party accounts.”

“We anticipate moving through the discovery process and will exercise our right to comment further once we’ve reviewed the specific details related to this case,” he added, choosing not to elaborate further.

Total value of printed Southwest vouchers amounts to $79,000

After conducting an internal review, Southwest alerted local airport police about their findings.

When authorities escorted Jones to his locker, he provided 119 travel vouchers to Southwest, which totaled approximately $36,300, as stated in the complaint.

Following his arrest, Jones indicated that he had received payments for the vouchers on four different occasions and had printed vouchers worth a total of $79,000 between August 1, 2023, and September 23, 2023, according to court documents.

Jones is scheduled for another court appearance on September 16.

Southwest Airlines opted not to comment and referred inquiries to local law enforcement.

Another similar case involving a Southwest employee

In a related incident, another Southwest employee, DaJuan Martin, admitted guilt to a wire fraud charge. Federal prosecutors accused him of fraudulently creating and selling company vouchers valued at around $1.9 million. An indictment from last June revealed that Martin was employed at Midway Airport in Chicago when he fabricated vouchers using fake customer names.

Having reached a plea deal with prosecutors last month, Martin is set to be sentenced on November 1, where he could face up to 20 years in prison and a potential fine of $250,000.