Is ‘Serial Stowaway’ Marilyn Hartman Also Guilty of National Security Crimes?

I still think about the case of 26-year-old Wicliff Fleurizard, the former Apple engineer accused of “national security crimes” for sneaking aboard a Delta Air Lines flight with someone else’s boarding pass. If that was a national security crime, should ‘serial stowaway’ Marilyn Hartman be called Tokyo Rose?

If Wicliff Fleurizard is a national security threat, why not Marilyn Hartman?

I detailed the maneuvers Fleurizard went through to get from Salt Lake City to Austin, including surreptitiously photographing an unsuspecting Delta passenger’s boarding pass and then using the image of that boarding pass to board that Delta flight to go. He was caught when every seat was full, leaving (like a game of musical chairs) no place to sit.

He was arrested and charged with “national security crimes,” including airplane stowaway and access device fraud, according to a Justice Department news release.

I realize some of this may just be DOJ puffery… after all, exaggeration is common in most press releases… but if Fleurizard is guilty of national security crimes, where does that leave Marilyn Hartman?

The folk hero has been arrested several times for trying to board a flight without a ticket. In all cases, she somehow managed to navigate through airport security checkpoints without identification. Isn’t that a “national security crime” under the DOJ’s very broad definition?

You could say that Hartman was mentally ill and Fleurizard was not, but are national security crimes really dependent on specific intentions or mental health? Or is the crime of “national security” the fact that an unauthorized person has boarded an aircraft? Because if the latter is the case, it is difficult to argue that there is an insanity defense.

CONCLUSION

My point here is not to bash Hartman or defend Fleurizard, but to further point out the absurdity of the DOJ labeling the latest case as anything other than a case of fraud by a “not the sharpest tool in the shed” plebe who did. I don’t want to pay for a plane ticket…

image: Cook County Sheriff’s Office