Marilyn Hartman: America’s most prolific plane stowaway caught for 22 time

She may look like a nice lady, but for years this woman – arguably America’s most notorious traveller – has made a mockery of authorities.

A 69-year-old woman was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport last week, allegedly attempting to board a plane without a ticket.

If found guilty, it will be her 22nd such offence.

Marilyn Hartman has become known in the US as a “serial stowaway”, having been caught again and again attempting to fly without a ticket.

Her latest trespassing charge comes just two weeks after a court appearance relating to a previous alleged stowaway attempt on a domestic flight.

Serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman has been arrested again. Picture: Cook County Sheriff’s Office

Her plea was rejected by a judge and was pending 18 months’ probation from a previous stowaway attempt, plus court-ordered mental health treatment, according to Associated Press.

She was under observation by Cook County authorities in Illinois using electronic monitoring.

Hartman allegedly left the facility where she had been staying while on monitoring, and the device allowed county sheriff’s deputies to track her as she headed for O’Hare Airport.

Deputies activated an alarm on Hartman’s device as she neared Terminal 1, where she was arrested.

The Chicago Tribune described Harman as a “serial stowaway” with 22 incidents across the country.

This would make her Chicago’s – if not America’s – most prolific stowaway.

Marilyn Hartman has been arrested 22 times.

She has become known as America’s ‘serial stowaway’.

Her earliest reported offence was in 2014.

From accessing regional departure lounges with discarded tickets to attempting to board international flights, her earliest recorded incident was from February 2014. That time, she was interviewed by San Francisco Airport police before being released.

In February 2016, following Hartman’s twelfth run-in with airport police she appeared before a court after violating a judge’s order to stay away from airports.

Judge William Raines handed the stowaway a suspended sentence with two years’ mental health probation.

The Chicago Tribute quoted the judge as saying: “Everybody has pretty much had it with you. You know, you’re on TV all the time, and I believe that’s really what you want.”

She was most recently arrested at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport. File image. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

Hartman was arrested at O’Hare in October 2019 just as she was trying to pass the second of two security checkpoints, according to court records. She was released from Cook County Jail about a year ago in an effort to release low-risk detainees from contracting COVID-19.

The 2019 arrest violated her probation sentence for sneaking past O’Hare security in January 2018, boarding a jet and flying to London’s Heathrow Airport without a ticket.

This article originally appeared on the New Zealand Herald and was reproduced with permission