'Serial Stowaway' Arrested After Sneaking On Plane, Checking Into Florida Resort Under Another Person's Name
NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. (CBS SF) -- The Transportation Security Administration is investigating how a woman with a history of boarding airplanes without a ticket was able to fly, ticket-free, from Minnesota to Florida.
Marilyn Hartman, 63, known as the "serial stowaway" was arrested for fraud and trespassing at a Florida resort. She told investigators she boarded a plane in Minneapolis-St. Paul without a ticket and flew to Jacksonville. She then used a false name to obtain transportation from the Jacksonville International Airport to an upscale resort and checked in under another person's name, according to a press release from Nassau County Sheriff.
When the real person check in to the resort later that day, Hartman was asked to come back to the front desk because of an a error booking, but she disappeared.
On Monday, security staff at at the Omni Resort Amelia Island Plantation in Yulee found Hartman staying in another room under renovation.
She was arrested and booked into the Nassau County Jail.
Hartman was spotted in August at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport attempting to enter a security checkpoint without a ticket, according to Phoenix police.
Previously, Hartman had gotten onto a flight without a ticket from Mineta San Jose International Airport to LAX on Aug. 4 and was arrested upon landing in Los Angeles, airport police said.
She was placed on 24 months' probation and released last Wednesday after being ordered to stay away from LAX unless she had a valid ticket for a flight, Mateljan said. She showed up the next day and was seen wandering from terminal to terminal at the airport and was arrested shortly afterward.
She was sentenced to 177 days in jail after she admitted violating her probation in the two incidents in Los Angeles, but was released just days later due to overcrowding.
Hartman tried several times earlier this year to board flights from San Francisco International Airport to Hawaii but was unsuccessful, San Mateo County prosecutors said.
After her fourth failed attempt, prosecutors had her placed on May 23 into a mental health probation program. However, she again tried to board flights at SFO twice in July.
Hartman has said she is homeless and feels safer in airports than on the streets.