Southwest Airlines employee has been smuggling cocaine onto flights between Houston and Baltimore.The employee, Carthon Lee Merrick, who lives in the greater Houston area, is a baggage handler for the airline.According to a federal indictment, he's being charged with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute.The indictment says that since 2001 Merrick has used his Southwest airlines flying privileges to make 388 smuggling trips between the two cities. He was finally nabbed earlier this year coming off a flight in Houston, where authorities found him in possession of $79,122 in cash.He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, and could get life in prison.
