Port of Portland police arrested and cited 39-year-old Janay Mateo on 31 August 2026 at a United Airlines boarding gate at Portland International Airport, after screeners found marijuana in her checked luggage during routine baggage inspections.[1] Mateo, a 39-year-old from Baltimore, was stopped before her flight in a case investigators believe involved a second traveler.[2] Officers had first responded to the airport’s checked baggage screening area around 3:45 a.m. for a suitcase holding multiple vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana that records showed Mateo had checked at the United counter about 40 minutes earlier.[1] Investigators learned she had checked a second bag, the gate agent pulled it before it was loaded onto the plane, and officers found Mateo waiting at the gate and took her into custody.[1] She faces charges of unlawful marijuana export, unlawful delivery of a marijuana item and unlawful possession, with arraignment scheduled for September 30.[1]
Police said Mateo admitted the second suitcase also contained marijuana and consented to its search, and detectives reported 50 vacuum-sealed packages across both bags totaling roughly 59.5 pounds (about 27 kilograms), with labels bearing names associated with marijuana strains.[1][3] Mateo told detectives she planned to take the marijuana to Maryland to resell it, though she said she uses marijuana daily and intended to keep most of it for personal use.[1][3]
Security footage showed Mateo had traveled with a companion who checked three suitcases, and Portland investigators alerted Pennsylvania law enforcement, who stopped the man after he landed.[1] Officers in Pennsylvania reported finding about 65 pounds of suspected marijuana and a $62,195 receipt detailing strains and pricing in the companion’s luggage, identifying him as Glenn Sanders through a Delaware driver’s license.[1] It was the sixth marijuana bust at PDX that FOX 12 had covered in 2026.[1]
