A 62-year-old woman who snuck onto a flight and flew unticketed into LAX last week, and then violated a judge’s order to stay away from the airport hours later was sentenced to 177 days in jail Wednesday.
Marilyn Jean Hartman, who earlier this year was arrested twice for sneaking into secure areas of San Francisco International Airport, appeared at the Los Angeles County Airport Courthouse in Del Aire.
She was arrested after wandering through terminals at LAX last Thursday, less than 24 hours after being sentenced on a stowaway charge and ordered to keep away from LAX. That sentence was in connection with her having bypassed security at San Jose International Airport and flying into LAX aboard a Southwest Airlines flight on Aug. 4.
Hartman told her attorney she would rather have jail time than go into any kind of mental health program, Judge Alan Rubin said at Wednesday’s hearing. He had ordered a mental health evaluation for her at a hearing Monday.
“The conduct itself is extraordinarily serious. Police resources, a great amount were used to handle this matter,” Rubin said. “LAX is a target all the time of very serious criminal conduct. … I want and I intend those police resources to be used to handle those kind of matters, not this.”
He also said her crimes could prompt copycat attempts, and that her actions created fear among passengers about safety at airports.
“This conduct must stop,” Rubin said. “I don’t know if the jail time will make an impression, but I hope it does.”
Hartman, wearing a bright yellow inmate shirt and a metal chain around her waist, nodded as the judge spoke, video from the courtroom showed.
Rubin ordered her to serve 177 days in county jail for failing to comply with the stay-away order.
After being sentenced Aug. 6 to probation on the stowaway charge, Hartman told reporters she would not repeat the crime and intended only to go to the airport with a paid ticket.
She did not want to “jeopardize security,” she said.
