Former New Mexico Airlines boss arrested for fraud

Gabriel Kimbrell has been arrested in Miami on charges of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud just months after he was fired from his position as president of New Mexico Airlines(Albuquerque). The charges relate to his tenure at the airline. 

According to KOAT news, court documents claim that over the period January 2014 to January 2015, Kimbrell used his corporate credit card, which belongs to the airline’s parent Pacific Wings (LW,Kahului), to fraudulently acquire up to USD22,791 worth of vitamin supplies, personal travel, Amazon items, and gasoline for personal use among others.

Kimbrell was fired from the Albuquerque-based carrier in March after a series of maintenance issues with its fleet of Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravans forced it to cancel flights from December onwards. 

The downtime subsequently led to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation which resulted in the carrier surrendering its operating certificate earlier this year.