Marine veteran fakes deployment, defrauds airline by taking 130 free flights, feds say

Miami Herald

21-03-2025

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran faked deployments to take 130 free and discounted flights to the Caribbean, Europe and other destinations at the expense of a major airline, federal prosecutors said.
Dior Jay-Jarrett, 29, of Queens, New York, was arrested March 20 on a federal wire fraud charge in connection with the scheme that defrauded the airline of nearly $70,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Attorney information for Jay-Jarrett, who now works as a federal air marshal with the Department of Homeland Security, wasn't immediately available the afternoon of March 21.
Jay-Jarrett was on active military duty when he joined the airline as a baggage handler in October 2021, according to court documents. He was stationed on Long Island, New York, at the time.
However, a special agent with the U.S. Attorney's Office suspects Jay-Jarrett 'never intended to actually begin work as a baggage handler,' the agent wrote in a criminal complaint.
After one week of baggage handling training, Jay-Jarrett lied to the airline, saying the Marine Corps ordered his deployment to Kuwait for eight months, a criminal complaint says.
The airline, which was identified only as 'Airline-1,' granted Jay-Jarrett military leave after he is accused of falsifying and providingmilitary deployment documents, according to the criminal complaint.
He did so 'to obtain travel benefits for which he otherwise would not have been eligible,' the criminal complaint says.
'Rather than start work at Airline-1,' Jay-Jarrett continued to work as a military guard in Long Island — and worked another job as a loss prevention lead at a sporting goods store, a special agent wrote in the court filing.
While he was purportedly on military leave, Jay-Jarrett became a federal air marshal with DHS in October 2022, according to the criminal complaint. He retired as a staff sergeant from the Marine Corps the next month after having served since December 2013, the complaint said.
Jay-Jarrett never notified the airline of his retirement but provided the company with additional documents in June 2023 to support a longer military leave, according to prosecutors, who said he lied about being ordered on a deployment for two and a half years.
From November 2021 through September 2024, while pretending to be deployed, Jay-Jarrett took at least 130 flights because he 'remained entitled to travel benefits including the ability to take unlimited, free flights on Airline-1, alongside ticketed family members or travel companions,' prosecutors said.
For free, Jay-Jarrett flew first class to Los Angeles, London, San Diego, St. George's, Las Vegas and Dublin, according to prosecutors.
He also took dozens of standard-class flights to Antigua, Aruba, Bermuda, Mexico and other countries in the Caribbean and Central America, prosecutors said
In an August 2022 Facebook post, Jay-Jarrett shared photos of his five-day trip to Cabo San Lucas, according to the criminal complaint, which includes a screenshot of the post.
'Out of the 13 countries I've visited so far this year, this has genuinely been one of my FAVORITE solo trips,' Jay-Jarrett captioned the post, the criminal complaint shows.
Law enforcement interviewed Jay-Jarrett in September, and he acknowledged that he retired from the Marine Corps without telling the airline and faked military orders about purported deployments, prosecutors said.
Jay-Jarrett 'racked up thousands of dollars in free or discounted flights while pretending to be deployed on military missions around the world,' Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement.
'He did so while simultaneously swearing an oath to protect and serve the public.'