NEW YORK: Faced with the unappetizing task of swallowing 54 cocaine-filled pellets, Regis Walker said she remembered a tip she learned watching “The Mule” on Netflix: honey makes drugs go down a little easier.
Regis Walker, 29, of Pembroke Pines, pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling cocaine into the U.S. The maximum punishment is 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine, but she will likely receive a lesser penalty at her sentencing Nov. 13.
Walker spent five days in hospital “passing” pellets weighing close to a pound and a half after she was arrested May 28 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Testing on the pellets later revealed they contained about 12.5 ounces of cocaine.
Authorities at the airport became suspicious of Walker, a U.S. native, when her flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica, landed. She told investigators that she spent four days visiting her husband in Jamaica.
She agreed to be X-rayed and the results showed she was carrying drug pellets in her stomach.
“Walker said she used honey to swallow the pellets, an idea she learned by watching the movie ‘The Mule’ on Netflix,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jeanne Neill wrote in court records.
On Thursday, in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Walker admitted she swallowed the pellets at a house in Jamaica and was paid $3,000 to bring the drugs to the U.S.
Walker, who said she has been unemployed for about two years, was released from jail on $210,000 worth of bonds in late July. She has remained on house arrest with electronic monitoring since then.
Walker told U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom she wanted to tell her more about the details of her crime and motive, but Assistant Federal Public Defender Jan Smith said Walker will wait until her sentencing to do so.
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