Originally Posted by
cbn42
The charge would be for "being a stowaway aboard an aircraft". Look up the case of Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi, who was arrested for boarding a plane with a false boarding pass.
Well, at most it would be 'intent to be a stowaway' <thoughtcrime> or 'attempted theft' or 'attempted fraud'. 18 USC 2199 is pretty clear you have to get on board and be there at takeoff. ID checks at the gate would either fail (in which case you wouldn't be caught) or catch you (in which case you couldn't board).
Mr. Noibi was able to plead guilty and get away with paying $950 in damages to VA and
time served.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/lo...126870048.html
An apparently homeless Nigerian-American man has agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to stowing away on a flight from New York to Los Angeles, federal prosecutors said Friday.
According to a signed agreement with prosecutors, 24-year-old Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi will enter his plea in Los Angeles federal court to one felony count that could land him in prison for up to five years.
He has also agreed to pay $942 restitution to Virgin America for the cost of the cross-country flight, according to the agreement.
In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will drop a second felony charge that Noibi attempted to use a fake identity to enter a secure area at Los Angeles International Airport, court documents show.
<snip>
At the bail hearing, federal public defense attorney Carl Gunn said the accusations against his client amounted to little more than "theft of an airplane flight."
And once again, TSA dodges a bullet because there will be no courtroom discovery on the law/regulations/orders that govern showing ID at a security checkpoint.
