Rescued Florida Plane Crash Passenger Charged in Cocaine Conspiracy

Jonathan Gardiner, one of 11 Bahamian survivors of a plane crash off the Florida coast, was charged with one count of cocaine import conspiracy for allegedly smuggling cocaine since 2023. Prosecutors say he carried a brown paper bag containing $30,000 in Bahamian currency labeled with the name of a Bahamian politician previously tied to a cocaine shipment, and he had three phones on him. The twin-engine plane departed Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, for Freeport and crashed about 80 miles off Melbourne, Florida; all passengers and the pilot survived and were rescued by an Air Force helicopter. Gardiner faces one count of cocaine import conspiracy.