The Chicago woman who managed to sneak through airport security and board dozens of flights without a ticket was reportedly escaped from an electronic surveillance facility before returning to the airport.
“Serial stowaway” Marilyn Hartman was taken into custody at O’Hare Airport on Tuesday after fleeing court-ordered facility, WGN said.
Investigators were able to arrest Hartman at the international airport thanks to her tracking device, the report said.
The 69-year-old – who has fooled the TSA at least 30 times in three decades – was unable to evade the checkpoint this week, and police picked her up in the unsecured area of the airport, the local said. station.
Hartman has been arrested multiple times for security breaches at O’Hare, Midway and other airports around the country. She even thwarted customs officers and hopped on planes to London, Copenhagen and Paris, according to an interview with Chicago’s CBS 2, which happened to air just Sunday.
Hartman told the station she’s not a criminal mastermind.
‘What to tell you. I have never been able to board a plane on my own. I was always let through, ”said Hartman. “I mean, I could go through the security line without a boarding pass.”
“I caught them, this is the thing that’s so crazy, following someone they would wear like a blue bag,” the Second City stowaway told the CBS branch. “And before I know it, I’ll be on the TSA line and TSA let me through, and they think I’m with the guy with the blue bag.”
Security professionals told the station that its simple tactics are very concerning in a post-9/11 world.
“For her to be able to repeat that over and over, it’s just mind-boggling,” aviation security expert Jeff Price told CBS 2.
The genius of her working method is its simplicity, ”he said. “It’s the simple types of plans that are often the most successful.”
Hartman, who struggles with bipolar disorder, claims police continue to blame her mental illness on her lengthy criminal record, rather than the airport worker’s incompetence.
‘I know they continue to emphasize mental illness … law enforcement … would like to have that. But umm … [laugh] no, I’m pretty good, ”she reportedly said.
According to WGN, allegations of crime escapes are pending against Hartman.