LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who flew from San Jose to Los Angeles without a boarding pass and has made repeated attempts to sneak aboard flights was arrested again Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.
Marilyn Jean Hartman, 62, was taken into custody at Terminal 7, which houses United Airlines, at about 11:15 a.m., airport police spokeswoman Belinda Nettles said in a statement.
Police did not immediately say why Hartman was arrested, but a judge a day earlier had ordered her to stay away from the LA airport unless she had a paid ticket after at least seven past attempts to sneak aboard planes.
"It was stupid, and it is something that I don't want to repeat," Hartman said as she left court Wednesday, vowing to never again board a plane without a ticket.
She had pleaded no contest to willfully and unlawfully entering the city as a stowaway on an aircraft, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 24 months' probation and ordered to keep away from LAX.
Hartman had recently left mental health treatment that she had been ordered to attend and said homelessness drove her to take "desperate measures." She said she feels safer being in airports than in the streets.
A message left Thursday afternoon with her attorney, Elsie Wanton, was not immediately returned.
On Monday, Hartman had tried at least three times to get to a plane before she finally went past a security screener who was busy checking a family's documents at Mineta San Jose International Airport, according to law enforcement officials. They would speak only on condition of anonymity because the security breach is being investigated.
Hartman then went through the electronic screening process before entering an airport terminal.
Her boarding status was discovered once Southwest Airlines Flight 3785 landed in Los Angeles, the officials said.
Her breach of security caused federal officials and the airline to launch investigations. It also prompted criticism of San Jose's airport in light of the trespassing of a teenage boy who stowed away in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines flight and survived the arduous journey to Maui.
