Ex-bag handler at Oakland airport pleads guilty in pot scheme

A former Oakland International Airport baggage handler admitted in August 2016 to participating in a scheme to help marijuana-filled luggage skirt screening. A former Oakland International Airport baggage handler admitted in August 2016 to participating in a scheme to help marijuana-filled luggage skirt screening. Photo: LUIS ROBAYO, AFP/Getty Images Photo: LUIS ROBAYO, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Ex-bag handler at Oakland airport pleads guilty in pot scheme 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A former baggage handler at Oakland International Airport has admitted steering luggage with bags of marijuana around screening devices and into the hands of passengers boarding Southwest Airlines flights.

Michael Videau, 29, of Oakland pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of distributing marijuana and violating airport security. A federal judge in Oakland has scheduled his sentencing for November.

Videau was among three baggage handlers and nine others charged in May 2015 with a scheme to ship marijuana on flights across the country. He is the eighth defendant, and the first baggage handler, to plead guilty.

Prosecutors said the employees took carry-on bags containing kilograms of marijuana around security checkpoints, then handed them to waiting passengers who had already cleared the checkpoints. Agents said they were able to intercept drug shipments that were destined for Nashville, Little Rock, Ark., and New Orleans.

Videau admitted carrying drug-laden bags to passengers on eight occasions in 2013, prosecutors said.

“This is a young man, with absolutely no (criminal) record ... a tragedy,” defense attorney Robert Beles said Thursday. “He was not the ringleader but got pulled in.”

He said prosecutors had agreed to recommend a prison term of between 18 and 24 months, the range set by federal guidelines, and the defense will argue for a lesser sentence.

The airline was not accused of wrongdoing and said it had cooperated with the investigation.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko