The Strange Case of Marilyn Hartman, Serial Stowaway
Vadim Liberman August 08, 2014
Marilyn Jean Hartman would like to be a frequent flyer. There’s just one snag: she never seems to have a ticket. But that hasn’t stopped her from attempting to board numerous flights in recent months. Officials had consistently thwarted her efforts until Monday, when Hartman evaded guards to slip onto Southwest Airlines Flight 3785 from San Jose to Los Angeles. Police arrested her upon landing.
Before getting on the plane at San Jose International Airport (SJC), Hartman, 62, supposedly made several bids to circumvent a document checker, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Eventually, she succeeded by concealing herself behind a family. It wasn’t until the plane had touched down at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that flight attendants realized that their headcount and the airline’s records were at odds. The airline notified the police, and officials took Hartman into custody.
On Wednesday, a judge imposed a 24-month probation on Hartman and warned her to stay away from LAX unless she had a valid ticket. Hartman, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of willfully and lawfully entering Los Angeles as an aircraft stowaway, remarked after leaving the court: “It was stupid, and it is something I don’t want to repeat.”
On Thursday, Hartman apparently changed her mind and was again arrested at LAX. “She was seen wandering through several terminals today in what appeared to be a scouting mission,” said Los Angeles police chief Patrick Gannon. Her next court hearing is on Monday. Until then, she is being held on $10,000 bail.
These aren’t the first times that Hartman, a retired secretary, has been arrested at airports. In November 2010, she was caught trying to leave Hawaii for San Francisco. It’s not clear how Hartman got to Hawaii or how she eventually returned to her hometown of San Francisco.
In February of this year, she attempted to fly from San Francisco back to Hawaii, nabbed only when a passenger found her in his seat upon boarding. On two separate days, she again tried to leave San Francisco for Hawaii, before a judge finally sentenced her to 18 months’ probation and barred her from stepping into San Francisco International Airport (SFO) without a ticket.
So when authorities discovered her loitering at an SFO baggage carousel in March, they again arrested her. And then again in April, when they encountered her at the airport food court.
Afterward, Hartman twice checked in and out of a mental-illness facility. She also had previously told officials that she wished to travel to a warmer climate because she had cancer, but according to the Chronicle, the illness had been in remission for years.
Meanwhile, as officials continue to investigate Hartman’s hijinks, the TSA says it has altered the layout of the document-checking area at SJC to prevent similar incidents.
[Photo: San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office]
Which is worse: Boarding a plane without a ticket? or Making psychological evaluations without a credential?
How can a person be viewed as "mentally ill" when clearly bright enough to circumvent numerous airport security checks & threshholds, undiscovered? Just doing it ONCE requires strategic planning and numerous skills. Willful criminal, yes, mentally ill, no.
If she were a little darker and wearing a headscarf, would she keep getting a slap on the wrist every time she is caught? This crazy woman needs to be saved from herself and locked up for a few years, either in a prison or an insane asylum.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman!
Isn''t there an airline that could take advantage of her desire to fly- and let her?! It seems to me this could result in some pretty interesting publicity for the right carrier. Think of the print ads, television commercials (does anyone have those?)- whatever airlines are currently using to promote themselves. Marilyn Hartman will do ANYTHING to fly on "YOUR AIRLINE NAME HERE".