CHICAGO — A woman who is barred from airports around the country due to multiple attempts to sneak past security checkpoints and board flights without a ticket will appear in court on trespassing charges on Thursday after being arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Marilyn Hartman, 64, is charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass on public property and one felony count of probation violation, said a Chicago Police Department spokeswoman.
Hartman, described by police as a habitual trespasser and stowaway, was arrested on Wednesday at the bus shuttle center outside a flight terminal at O’Hare, the spokeswoman said.
The retired legal secretary was arrested at least four times last year at two different Chicago airports, for loitering near security checkpoints, trespassing and in one case causing a disturbance on an airplane after she boarded with a valid ticket.
She spent six months in jail, was released in December, put on probation and electronic monitoring, and sent to a mental health facility, according to NBC Chicago.
Hartman has given different reasons for her airport compulsion, saying it is like climbers who scale mountains “because they are there,” referring to feeling pressured to go to airports, and saying she wanted to be arrested so she could tell her story, according to media reports.
Hartman has been arrested on charges of trespassing or loitering at airports in San Jose, California, and San Francisco and at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, according to media reports.
She has been sentenced to probation or jail terms on several such misdemeanor charges, according to the reports.
Hartman told NBC that she lived in Chicago in her childhood but had not had a permanent home for years. She said she had lived in shelters and also moved from state to state, including Illinois, Hawaii, California, Arizona and Florida.