Serial Stowaway Arrested Again After Jail Release

Marilyn Hartman must really love flying, or planes, or airports. She made headlines just a couple of weeks ago for sneaking onto a Southwest Airlines flight from San Jose to Los Angeles without a ticket. She has been arrested again this week, at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

Hartman, 62, plead no contest to the SJC-LAX stowaway act and was released on probation. However, she violated probation by returning to LAX, and was spotted wandering around without a ticket, and was sentenced to 177 days in jail. She had served only three days, when she was released due to overcrowding, then made her way to Phoenix. Phoenix police said she was arrested for criminal trespassing, and that a mental health evaluation has been requested.

Phoenix airport employees spotted her hanging out in the baggage claim without a ticket, (which is a publicly accessible area, and not a crime) but she had also been there and was given a warning on August 14th. She was also arrested in May in San Francisco, and given probation for trying to sneak onto a flight that was bound for Hawaii.

The most famous stowaway case is that of Frank Abagnale, who posed as a Pan Am pilot and flew over a million miles, to over 250 countries as a "deadhead" or off-duty pilot. He even acquired a pilot's uniform and successfully forged a FAA pilot's license. Abagnale's life of crime and forgery was the subject of a 2002 movie, Catch Me if you Can.

H/T Airwise

Top photo – PHX Terminal 4 by Robert Couse-Baker on Flickr (CC Commercial License)