A Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket is guilty of being a stowaway on an aircraft, a federal jury found Friday.
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 4 via Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer could not find Ochigava on the flight’s manifest or any other incoming international flights, according to a complaint filed Nov. 6 in Los Angeles federal court.
After a three-day trial, the court’s jury found Ochigava, 46, guilty of one count of being a stowaway on an aircraft. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison when he is sentenced Feb. 5, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Prosecutors presented evidence at the trial that showed Ochigava entered a terminal at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark without a boarding pass by tailgating an unsuspecting passenger through a security turnstile. The next day, he boarded the plane undetected, prosecutors said.
Isn’t extradition a concern? Imagine getting this far and just being served on a silver platter to Putin.
Extradition? Probably not. He’s almost certainly going to get deported after his sentence is served.