“Serial Stowaway” Marilyn Hartman was detained at Chicago’s O’Hare International airport on Tuesday, officials from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to FOX News.
According to police, Hartman was electronically monitoring a previous offense when Tuesday’s arrest occurred.
At approximately noon, police were notified that Hartman had left the residential facility where she was staying during the electronic monitoring program. The investigators immediately started working to locate her via GPS on her anklet.
Authorities said the team tried to contact Hartman using a phone built into the device, but Hartman did not respond. The anklet indicated that Hartman was traveling in the direction of O’Hare International Airport.
Marilyn Hartman (photo courtesy of Cook County Sheriff’s Office)
While investigators were on their way to O’Hare, the Sheriff’s Office noticed the Chicago Police that Hartman appeared to be heading towards the airport and, at 1:38 pm, notified the Chicago Police that she was in the vicinity of Terminal 1.
An alarm siren was activated on Hartman’s device, and she was taken into custody by the Chicago police. Hartman has not entered any safe areas.
Hartman is currently in the custody of the Chicago Police. She must be returned to custody in prison and the Sheriff’s Office will seek approval for the criminal escape charge.
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Hartman has been arrested several times in O’Hare, Midway and airports across the country for trying to circumvent airport security and recently opened CBS 2 on its history of illegal travel.
Hartman estimates that she has made at least 30 flights in almost 20 years without paying for a ticket.
A CBS2 review of court records and police reports showed that Hartman was repeatedly caught carrying a boarding pass for another passenger or arriving in another country without documentation to clear customs.
“I managed to overcome them, this is crazy to follow someone they would carry like a blue bag,” he explained. “And the next thing I know, I get on the TSA line and TSA lets me through, and they think I’m with the guy with the blue bag.”
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Hartman recalled that she started boarding the flights illegally in 2002.
“The first time I made it through, I flew to Copenhagen,” she said. “The second time I flew to Paris.”
However, Hartman’s first arrest was not until August 2014, when she flew from San Jose, California, to Los Angeles without a ticket. A judge dismissed her with a warning, but she continued to do so again.
She was arrested again seven months later in Jacksonville, Florida, after flying from Minnesota without a ticket. The court that oversaw the case determined that she was not mentally competent to face the charge, but Hartman insists that it is not the case.
“I know that they continue to emphasize mental illness. The police would like to have this in place. But umm … no, I’m fine, ”she told CBS2 with a laugh. “I don’t care if people say,” She’s crazy. “Because when I look at it objectively, that’s how I see it, it’s crazy. On purpose, I remained a mystery, because of the crazy factor. It was like something out of a movie.”
Police documents allegedly show that Hartman was placed on the TSA invasion list in January 2015. She was later referred to as a “serial stowaway” in April 2015, considered a “high security risk” in May 2015 and a “stowaway” usual “in July 2015.
The last time Hartman successfully boarded a flight was in January 2018, when she passed security at O’Hare and boarded a British Airways flight to London Heathrow. However, she was caught on arrival in the UK, where border officials discovered that she did not have the proper documentation. Hartman was sent back to Chicago, where she was charged with theft and misdemeanor.
Hartman was released from custody and required to wear an ankle monitor and undergo psychiatric evaluation. She later pleaded guilty to trespassing and was sentenced to 18 months probation.
In October 2019, she was located and arrested at O’Hare Airport trying to circumvent security without a boarding pass. She was later charged with theft, criminal invasion and parole violation.
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A year and a half after his most recent arrest, Hartman began writing back and forth with CBS2 investigator Brad Edwards. Edwards conducted a series of telephone interviews with Hartman for the vehicle’s most recent report.
Hartman apologized to the police and the TSA, saying “It was not my intention to hinder their work.”
She noticed that her bipolar disorder induced her to take flights whenever she went into a depressive episode.
“When I got on the plane, I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m going here or there’ – in fact, I was in a depressed mood,” said Hartman. “I am bipolar. And that is something I have rejected for years.”
She also opened up about her troubled childhood, telling Edwards that there was “so much violence and mental illness in the house”.
Hartman added that he waited to give an interview “until I was sure I would not take an illegal flight again”.
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Hartman appeared at a hearing in early March to discuss the details of a court settlement in his latest case.
Prosecutors proposed dropping the theft charge and sentencing Hartman to 18 months probation with mental health counseling. However, Judge Peggy Chiampas declined the proposal, saying: ‘I will not give her a third probation.’
“I have a very tough judge in this case,” said Hartman. ‘Judge Chiampas is furious with me for the situation I found myself in.’
According to CBS 2, Hartman’s court settlement is expected to close in early April, when all parties return to court.