Stowaway Arrested Again at LAX

The 62-year-old airplane stowaway who breached security at San Jose's airport and made her way onto a flight to Los Angeles was arrested again Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport when she showed up without a ticket, police said.

Marilyn Jean Hartman, a Bay Area resident, was arrested at 11:15 a.m. by LAX police officers near Terminal 7. She was taken immediately to the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division jail for booking, LAX Police Chief Patrick Gannon said.

Hartman was held on suspicion of violating her probation terms from Monday's arrest, which required that she have an airline ticket if she visited an airport.

"We were hoping she would buy a ticket," Gannon said. "I'd like her to be somebody else's problem, to be honest with you."

Hartman was arrested six times trying to sneak onto flights at San Francisco International Airport. She succeeded Monday in getting around security at San Jose International Airport, and then boarded a Southwest flight to LAX. She was arrested when the plane landed.

Hartman on Wednesday pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of entering Los Angeles as a stowaway and was immediately sentenced to three days in jail - amounting to credit for time she has already served - and two years probation.

The judge ordered her to stay away from LAX unless she had a valid ticket to fly, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

After her appearance at the Airport courthouse, Hartman took a bus to Santa Monica and made her way by bus to Union Station in Los Angeles, where she spent the night. Gannon smiled when asked if police were following her.

"We have people who saw her up in Union Station," he said. She got on a FlyAway bus to LAX and traveled to the airport."

Officers in plain clothes watched her go into the public areas of several terminals for an hour, but she never attempted to go through security screening and never walked up to a counter to buy a ticket.

"She actually has the means to take a flight or two, but apparently prefers to do so without buying a ticket or actually following all the rules that we all have to follow to get on a flight to go someplace," Gannon said.

Gannon said Hartman likely needs 72 hours of psychiatric observation. He said she is fixated on getting onto an airplane without paying.

"She has to want the help for us to get it to her, which we would love to do," the chief said. "She has been a thorn in the side of San Francisco airport, and San Jose airport now, and we want to make sure we are proactive in this case."

Gannon said police had to take her seriously.

"This is a 62-year-old woman. This isn't the case of the century, trust me," he said. "However, it's important that we demonstrate not only to people with mental illnesses, but people who have other thoughts about attacking this airport in some way or another, that we are on these issues and we take them very seriously."