Canyon News
BEVERLY HILLS On Wednesday, January 6, the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced that a former Mesa Airlines employee, Hubbard Bell, 32, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiring to fraudulently obtain approximately 2,000 free flights for himself and others on Spirit Airlines and to manufacture counterfeit Mesa employee identification badges. He was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to Spirit Airlines. Bell, who is the lead defendant in this case, pleaded guilty in September of 2020 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Bell worked at the Phoenix-based Mesa Airlines from June 2015 to October 2015. As a benefit of his employment, he was provided free access to Spirit Airlines tickets, a benefit he was permitted to use only while employed at Mesa. From February 2016 to November 2017, after Mesa Airlines terminated his employment, Bell conspired with others to sell stolen and unauthor