A man without a ticket or passport flew from Copenhagen to Los Angeles, the FBI says

How difficult is it to board an international flight to the United States without a ticket and passport?

One man accomplished that last month after passing through security at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark and flying on a Scandinavian Airlines flight to Los Angeles International Airport with only Russian and Israeli identification cards in his bag, according to reports. prosecutors.

The man, Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, spoke with federal law enforcement officials with the help of a Russian-speaking federal agent on Nov. 5, the day after his flight landed and he was detained in Los Angeles. But the interview only seemed to deepen the mystery surrounding his journey.

He told officers he had a Ph.D. in economics and marketing and had long ago worked as an economist in Russia, according to an FBI statement. He said he hadn’t slept in three days and “didn’t understand what was going on,” according to the affidavit.

He said he “may have a plane ticket to the United States,” but was unsure, according to the affidavit. Mr. Ochigava also said he “did not remember how he got on the plane” and “did not want to explain how or when he arrived in Copenhagen, or what he did there,” according to the affidavit. He also “claimed he had no memory of getting through security without a ticket,” it said.

Mr. Ochigava was indicted last month by a federal grand jury on charges of stowawaying on an airplane, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is set to begin on December 26. His federal public defender, Erica Choi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, said authorities believed Mr. Ochigava was a Russian citizen and had not confirmed any legal status he might have in Israel. Documents in his possession show him to be 46 years old, Mr. Mrozek said.

Lise Agerley Kürstein, a representative of Copenhagen Airport, said Mr Ochigava was seen on airport surveillance footage “without a valid ticket.”

“Copenhagen Airport has provided photo and video material to authorities investigating the case,” she said. “We are taking the matter very seriously and it will be part of the work we continue to do to adapt and strengthen our guidelines to improve safety.”

Scandinavian Airlines said in a statement on Tuesday that it could only confirm a “situation involving a passenger” on a flight from Copenhagen to the United States, and that the matter was being investigated by authorities in both countries.

According to the affidavit, crew members on Scandinavian Airlines Flight 931 did not see Mr. Ochigava’s boarding pass, but noticed that he was initially seated in seat 36D, which was believed to be unoccupied, and then wandered around the plane and during the flight kept changing seats. 12 hour flight.

Mr. Ochigava requested two meals during each meal, and “at one point attempted to eat the chocolate belonging to cabin crew members,” the affidavit says. One crew member said Mr. Ochigava tried to talk to other passengers, “but most passengers ignored him,” the affidavit said.

After the plane landed in Los Angeles at 1 p.m., Mr. Ochigava approached a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint and told an officer in English that he had left his passport on the plane. But the airline found no passport there, the affidavit said.

Agents searched Mr. Ochigava’s bag and found a Russian identification card, used for travel within Russia, but not an international passport required for entry into the United States, the affidavit said.

Mr. Ochigava also had an Israeli identification card, but there was no evidence that he had applied for the electronic travel authorization that Israelis need to enter the United States, the affidavit said.

An officer searched the State Department’s visa database but could not find any evidence that Mr. Ochigava had applied for or received a visa, the affidavit said.

Another search of all passengers on the Scandinavian Airlines flight, along with all passengers who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport before 3 p.m. that day on every European flight, confirmed that all had been registered, the affidavit said.

A day later, Mr. Ochigava allowed federal agents to view six photos on his phone before turning it off, the affidavit said. But they also seemed to shed little light on his travels.

The most recent photo showed television screens displaying information for flights flying around the world, including to Amsterdam, Munich and London, the affidavit said. The other photos showed screenshots from a mapping app of a hostel in Kiel, Germany, and maps of “an unknown foreign city,” according to the affidavit.