Cocaine surfboard smuggler sentenced to 5 years in prison

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A Pomona man who tried to smuggle cocaine from Los Angeles to Australia in a hollowed-out surfboard received a five-year prison sentence on Monday.

Jesse Edgardo Herrera, 31, was arrested in February at Los Angeles International Airport. Irregularities in the surfboard caught the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers as Herrera checked in his bags.

Herrera told the agents he was heading to Sydney, Australia, for a vacation. But the agents decided to further examine the surfboard. They used a saw to cut off the end of the board, exposing four plastic bags that had a total of nearly 7 pounds of the drug, authorities said. Herrera was then arrested.

He pleaded guilty in May to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Authorities estimate the cocaine would have sold for more than $750,000 on the street in Australia.