Monitoring Desk
Los Angeles: A man who claims to have worked as an economist in Russia is accused of somehow boarding a passenger plane to the United States without a ticket or passport — and then gorging himself on airline food before getting busted on arrival.
Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, was interviewed by Customs and Border Protection officials at Los Angeles International Airport shortly after getting off a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen, Denmark, around 1 p.m. on Nov. 4, according to official records.
CBP officers found he wasn’t on the passenger list for that or any other arriving flight and he couldn’t produce a passport or visa, according to court papers.
Ochigava allegedly claimed to have left his passport on the plane but a search failed to turn up the ID, although Russian and Israeli identification cards were found in his bag.
Airline crew members also said that they didn’t recall seeing his boarding pass but that he stood out because he “wandered around the plane and kept changing his seat,” according to court papers.
“One member of the cabin crew stated that it looked like Ochigava was trying to talk to other passengers on the flight, but most of the passengers ignored him,” FBI agent Caroline Walling wrote in an affidavit.
Ochigava also allegedly “asked for two meals during each meal service, and at one point attempted to eat the chocolate that belonged to members of the cabin crew.”
During an interview with FBI agents, Ochigava said he had a Ph.D. in economics and marketing and “last worked as an economist in Russia a long time,” according to court records.
He also allegedly said he hadn’t slept for three days, didn’t remember how he got on the plane and wouldn’t say how or when he got to Copenhagen or what he was doing there.
An inquiry to Scandinavian Airlines, known as SAS, by The Messenger wasn’t immediately returned on Monday.
But an airline spokesperson told the 404 Media website, which first reported on the incident Monday, “The matter is being handled by relevant authorities both in US and Denmark and we cannot comment any further.”
Ochigava was charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
He was ordered held without bail as a flight risk and was indicted on the same charge on Nov. 16 but he missed his Nov. 30 arraignment because he was hospitalized at the time.
He’s at the federal lockup in Los Angeles pending trial on Dec. 26.
