A Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket told US authorities he did not remember how he got through security in Europe, according to a federal complaint filed by the FBI.
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on November 4 on Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen. A US Customs and Border Protection officer was unable to find Ochigava on the flight manifest or any other inbound international flight, according to the complaint filed Nov. 6 in Los Angeles federal court.
He was charged as a deviant passenger on the plane and pleaded not guilty in a Dec. 5 trial. A hearing is scheduled for December 26. A federal public defender representing Ochigava, who remained in custody Tuesday, did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The flight crew told investigators that when the flight took off, Ochigawa was in a seat that should have been empty. After takeoff, he continued to wander around the plane, changing seats and trying to talk to other passengers, who ignored him, according to the complaint.
He also ate “two meals during each meal service, and at one point tried to eat chocolate belonging to a member of the cabin crew,” the complaint said.
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 a Russian identification card and an Israeli identification card,” federal officials said in court documents. They also found on his phone a photo that partially showed a passport containing his name, date of birth, and passport number but not his photo, they said.
A Russian man flew from Denmark to Los Angeles without a passport, according to the FBI. AP
Ochigava “provided false and misleading information about his trip to the United States, including initially telling CBP that he left his US passport on the plane,” the complaint said.
Scandinavian Airlines did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Ochigava told FBI agents that he has a doctorate in economics and marketing and that he last worked as an economist in Russia.
“Ochigava claimed he had not slept for three days and did not understand what was happening,” the complaint said.
He told the officer he might have a plane ticket to come to the United States, but he wasn’t 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.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
