Serial Stowaway Marilyn Hartman Arrested Again After Sneaking Onto London-Bound Flight

Marilyn Hartman loves to sneak onto airplanes.
Marilyn Hartman flew to London without a ticket. Chicago Police Dept.

The 66-year-old woman managed to sneak onto a flight to London without a passport or a ticket.

The woman who can't seem to stop herself from sneaking onto airplanes has done it again, police said.

Marilyn Hartman, 66, somehow managed to wander around O'Hare International Airport for two days before boarding a flight to London without a ticket or a passport, authorities said.

She was stopped last week by customs officials in Britain and sent back to Chicago, where waiting police arrested her and charged her with misdemeanor trespassing and felony theft for flying on British Airways without a $2,400 ticket.

She was released Saturday on her own recognizance and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment and to stay away from O'Hare. She also must wear an ankle monitor. 

“There is no pun intended for your client, but she is a flight risk given the number of offenses,” Judge Stephanie K. Miller said to Hartman’s court-appointed attorney, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

The TSA is investigating how Hartman was able to get past security and gate employees.

Surveillance video showed her walking past TSA agents, authorities said. After getting past security, she went to a terminal and tried to board a flight to Connecticut by darting around a passenger in line, prosecutors said. She was stopped by a gate agent and told to sit down.

Instead, she walked away and got on a shuttle bus to the international terminal and slept there overnight, officials said.

On Saturday, she got past British Airway ticket agents and onto a plane bound for London. After hiding in the bathroom, she walked out and found a seat, authorities said. 

The woman, who has said she is homeless, has been stopped several times across the country for trying to sneak onto airplanes. In 2016, she was arrested for trespassing at O'Hare. She was on probation at the time for a 2015 trespassing charge at the airport.

She was sentenced to 364 days in jail for the second offense.

A 2015 article about Hartman in the San Francisco Chronicle said she suffered mental problems and was sometimes homeless.

She felt “the need to get on a plane to go away.” At the time, she reportedly had tried to get past airport security at least 18 times.

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