Serial stowaway does it again, police say

Serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman has done it again, police in Chicago said Saturday.

After spending almost two months in jail after pleading guilty to criminal trespass on state lands, the 63-year-old woman told reporters in Chicago Thursday she was done with stowaway attempts and would stay out of airports unless she had a ticket.

“If I have a ticket, I can go,” she said then. “If I have a ticket to ride. Sounds like a song.”

But around 6:30 p.m. Friday, she got on a plane — this time with a valid boarding pass — but was escorted off for “causing a disturbance,” according to the Chicago Police Department, which charged with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.

Quickly released from custody, Hartman tried to get past security at O’Hare Airport without a ticket around 2:15 p.m. Saturday, was recognized by security workers and charged with criminal trespass and a bail bond violation, the police said.

In April and May, Hartman was arrested after trying several times to get past security at O’Hare and Midway airports. She has tried numerous times in recent years to board flights without a ticket and succeeded at least once, flying from San Jose, California, to Los Angeles last August on a Southwest Airlines flight after slipping past an agent checking a family’s boarding passes and somehow getting past a gate agent.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, she offered little in the way of explanation for her behavior, saying only, “Even smart people do stupid things.”