Photo: OLAFUR STEINAR GESTSSON / AFP / Getty Images
Officials are trying to determine how a man with Russian and Israeli IDs managed to board a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles without a ticket or passport.
When Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on November 4, he was stopped by Customs and Border Patrol agents because they had no record of his name on the flight manifest for Scandinavian Airlines flight SK 931.
He allegedly misled the agents, falsely claiming he left his passport on the plane. Officers searched his bag and found two ID cards, one from Russia and one from Israel.
During a search of Ochigava's phone, officers found a partial photograph of his passport, which included his name, date of birth, and passport number.
Ochigava told investigators that he hadn't slept in three days and had no idea how he managed to get past security or board the plane without a boarding pass or passport.
The flight crew noted that Ochigava sat in an unoccupied seat for takeoff but then wandered around the plane and kept changing his seat.
Ochigava was charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft and faces up to five years in jail if he is convicted.