On Thursday, A 70-year-old woman with a history of slipping past security at airports and sneaking onto flights was sentenced to more than three years in prison for trespassing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in 2019.
Marilyn Hartman pleaded guilty to felony counts of criminal trespass and electronic monitoring escape, and Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas sentenced her to 18 months in prison for the trespassing and two years in prison for the escape.
The judge stated that she must serve the sentences in order. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, she was given well over two years of credit for the time she had previously spent in custody.
According to multiple police reports, Hartman has been practicing since 2009, her techniques that got her into multiple countries. These include ducking under the velvet ropes, piggybacking her way into small groups, presenting other people’s boarding passes, or simply answering “yes” when airport staff asks leading questions such as: “Are you, Maria Sandgren? ”
ICYMI: Video at MSP shows how #serialstoaway gets past TSA checkpoints. http://t.co/tT0pMun16B pic.twitter.com/tRWi7w2cQ6
— Tom Lyden (@LydenFOX9) May 7, 2015
The hearing marks the latest chapter in a yearslong odyssey of a woman dubbed the “serial stowaway” who has sneaked into airports in Chicago, Hawaii, San Francisco, Florida, and elsewhere and tried — sometimes successfully — to board passenger jets without a ticket. Her 2019 arrest violated a probation sentence she received for her conviction on charges that she sneaked past O’Hare security in January 2018, boarded a jet, and flew to London’s Heathrow Airport without a ticket.
Hartman’s story started in 2014 when she waged a virtual assault on San Francisco international airport, where she attempted to sneak onto half a dozen planes over the course of several months.
Hartman managed to make a lot of people look foolish and took a $2,400 flight for free.
When Hartman’s sentence is completed and she is placed on mandatory supervised release, also known as parole, her assistant public defender said A Safe Haven, which provides mental health treatment, housing, and other services for people experiencing homelessness, would accept her back into their program.
Other pending charges were dropped against Hartman by prosecutors.
Chiampas said she would order the Illinois Department of Correction to continue to provide mental health treatment for Hartman while in custody.
Sources: Dailycaller, Chicago.suntimes, Chicagotribune