'Serial stowaway' ordered to remain in custody after sneaking into Chicago airport
— -- A Chicago judge on Wednesday ordered a woman charged in numerous airport stowaway incidents in the past several years to remain in custody.
Marilyn Hartman, who has become known as the "Serial Stowaway," was arrested on Sunday when she was caught at Chicago O'Hare International airport. She fled when personnel recognized her and asked her to leave the premises, from which she had been banned by court order.
Hartman, 66, has been charged with Criminal Tresspass to Land and was sent to court for violating her bail bond, police said.
During her brief hearing Wednesday, Hartman interrupted the judge and her own attorney saying she did not have any family and that she was under the care of a medical professional.
Hartman has been repeatedly arrested for trespassing at O'Hare. The most serious incident occurred on Jan. 14 when she got through a TSA checkpoint and boarded a flight to London.
After that incident, she was ordered to stay away from Chicago airports and was released from custody.
Hartman has been arrested multiple times between 2014 and 2018 after boarding and sometimes completing flights, for which she did not have tickets, to destinations around the U.S.
Her case has highlighted lapses in airport security nationwide.
Cook County Assistant Public Defender Parle Roe-Taylor said she does not believe Hartman should be locked up.
"I don't think jail is an appropriate place for Ms. Hartman," she said. "What we know is she is not violent, none of the offenses have anything to do with violence, she is not pushing past anyone in any of these instances. She is not hurting personnel, even when she is at the airport. I don't think that at 66 this is a place that she should be. She is very defenseless."
Several local and federal agencies are involved in the case and currently reviewing security procedures.
Hartman is due back in court on February 13.
