United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAN FRANCISCO - Bobby Napier was sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment for bribing a public official in order to smuggle drugs through passenger security screening at San Francisco International (SFO).  The sentence was announced by Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge John J. Martin and Acting United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch.  The sentence was handed down yesterday by the Honorable Charles R. Breyer, United States District Judge, following a guilty plea in which Napier admitted to committing the crime.

Napier, 47, of Stafford, Texas, pleaded guilty on January 11, 2017, to bribing a public official in order to smuggle drugs through security screening.  The public official was an employee of a private company under contract to provide baggage and passenger screening services to the Transportation Security (TSA).

The plea agreement describes five separate occasions between May 16, 2013, and April 17, 2014, in which Napier paid the public official for the purpose of smuggling cocaine through the security screening checkpoint at SFO.  According to the guilty plea, Napier also admitted that even before the instances described in his plea agreement, he had smuggled marijuana through SFO. 

Napier acknowledged making payments in the form of cash deposits to the public official’s bank account, money orders or cash mailed to the official, and cash payments in face-to-face meetings.  Napier admitted the payments were intended to allow persons carrying drugs in carry-on luggage to pass through the security checkpoint undetected.  Napier facilitated the smuggling of a total of 23 kilograms of cocaine through the checkpoint and paid bribes totaling $13,500 to the TSA official. 

On January 10, 2017, Napier was charged by superseding information with one count of bribing a public official.  Pursuant to his plea agreement, Napier pleaded guilty to the charge.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Breyer sentenced Napier to three years of supervised release.  Judge Breyer ordered Napier to surrender on or before September 8, 2017, to begin serving his sentence. 

Assistant United States Attorney Laura Vartain Horn is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Rawaty Yim.  This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.