“Serial Stowaway” Remains Jailed in Chicago After Arrest

A woman described as a "serial stowaway" remained in custody Thursday in Chicago after she told a judge she didn't have the money to make her share of the $7,500 bond.

Marilyn Hartman, 63, has been arrested three times in the past two weeks, attempting to board aircraft at O’Hare and Midway airports, incident reports show. She made another attempt on April 19, an incident for which she received only a warning.

Judge William Raines on Thursday requested a psychiatric evaluation and ordered Hartman to stay away from not only O'Hare and Midway, but all airports in Illinois. 

Judge Raines also ordered her to seek the court's permission any time she wants to travel by airplane or even purchase a ticket.

"Ms. Hartman, what am I supposed to do?" the judge said.  "You continue to perform the same activities over and over again, and it's getting to the point I'm concerned!"

At least three times, Hartman appears to have been successful in her attempts.

Last February, she made it all the way onto an aircraft bound from San Francisco to Honolulu. Last Aug. 4, she stowed away on a flight from San Jose to Los Angeles. After her release from jail, she was ordered to stay away from the Los Angeles airport but was arrested there the very next day. Sentenced to 117 days in jail, Hartman was released after just a few days in custody because of jail overcrowding.

In January, she was discovered in a vacant hotel room at the posh Amelia Island resort, where she told police that she had just arrived after slipping onto a flight from Minneapolis to Jacksonville. Wary of her movements, airport police noticed her roaming the Jacksonville airport again on April 14. But this time, Hartman insisted she was flying legally to Chicago. A police report shows that airport personnel walked her to the American Airlines ticket counter where they watched her purchase a ticket to Chicago. That report shows they then walked her through the TSA process because she had no photo ID and made sure she boarded the Chicago-bound flight.

"You seem clear minded," Raines said in court Thursday, "but I feel we need to get a professional evaluation."

"A lot of resources are being spent on you. Nationally, all over this country, people are trying to help you."

Her next court date was scheduled for June 5.

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