A Russian who boarded a flight from Denmark to Los Angeles International Airport without a ticket, a passport or a visa was sentenced Monday, Feb. 5, to time already served and ordered to pay for the flight.
Sergey Ochigava, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu to the 93 days spent behind bars, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $2,174 to Scandinavian Airlines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said they expect Ochigava to be placed into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings.
Ochigava, who held both Russian and Israeli passports, was found guilty last month in Los Angeles federal court to one count of being an aircraft stowaway.
Ochigava apparently tailgated an unsuspecting passenger through a security turnstile at Copenhagen Airport so that he could enter an airport terminal without a boarding pass.
The next day, he passed through the boarding gate undetected and stowed away. During the flight, the cabin crew noticed Ochigava, because he moved between multiple unassigned seats.
When the flight landed on the afternoon of Nov. 4, Ochigava encountered U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who discovered he was not listed as a passenger.
Ochigava gave false and misleading information about his travel to the United States, including telling the officers that he left his passport on the airplane.
Ochigava had been in federal custody since his arrest.
