Russian man who flew on Los Angeles flight without passport or ticket charged with federal crime
Agencies – Sudan Events
A Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket told U.S. authorities he did not remember how he got through security in Europe, according to a federal complaint filed by the FBI.
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava was charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft and pleaded not guilty in a Dec. 5 arraignment. A trial was scheduled for Dec. 26. The flight crew told investigators that during the flight’s departure, Ochigava was in a seat that was supposed to be unoccupied. After departure, he kept wandering around the plane, switching seats and trying to talk to other passengers, who ignored him, according to the complaint.
Ochigava did not have a passport or visa to enter the United States, officials said. Customs and Border Protection officers searched his bag and found what “appeared to be Russian identification cards and an Israeli identification card,” federal officials said in court documents.
“Ochigava claimed he had not been sleeping for three days and did not understand what was going on,” the complaint said.
He told officials he might have had a plane ticket to come to the United States, but he was not sure. He also said he did not remember how he got through security in Copenhagen and would not explain what he was doing in the Scandinavian city, according to the complaint.
