A Russian man who passed through Danish airport security to board a flight bound for Los Angeles International Airport without a passport, visa or ticket was found guilty of stowing away, according to the US Department of Justice. announced on friday.
After a three-day trial, Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, was found guilty of stowing away on an airplane.
He faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 5.
Authorities say Ochigava slipped aboard a flight to Los Angeles on Nov. 4 after passing through a Copenhagen airport gate undetected.
He had been able to enter the airport terminal without a boarding pass a day earlier after following an unsuspecting passenger through a security turnstile, prosecutors said.
During the more than 12-hour flight aboard Scandinavian Airlines Flight 931, Ochigava constantly changed seats, talked to several passengers, ordered two in-flight meals and tried to snack on a cabin crew member's chocolate bar, according to court documents filed by the federal government. prosecutors.
Upon arriving at LAX, Customs and Border Protection agents detained Ochigava at an immigration checkpoint and could not find him on the manifest for that flight or any other incoming international flight, according to court documents.
Ochigava was unable to present a passport, visa or other travel documents that would allow him to enter the country, according to the Department of Justice. When they questioned him, authorities say, he provided false and misleading information about his trip to the United States, including the claim that he had left his passport on the plane.
According to court documents, Russian and Israeli identification cards were found in her possession when police searched her purse.
Additional details about the motivation behind Ochigava's trip were not immediately available.
