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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A woman was detained for questioning at Los Angeles International Airport after allegedly flying from Tennessee without a ticket, officials said Thursday.
The woman, whose name and hometown were not immediately available, has not been charged as of Thursday, according to FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller. The case is under investigation in Nashville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, she said.
On Feb. 7, the traveler was in line for screening at Nashville International Airport when she snuck around an unmanned security station, bypassing the ticket checker, before getting back in line for security screening, federal officials said.
The woman and her carry-on baggage were screened by security before she boarded the flight, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
"TSA is reviewing the circumstances of this matter, but can confirm that the traveler in question was physically screened, along with their carry- on items, without incident at the Nashville International Airport security checkpoint on Feb. 7 before boarding the flight," according to TSA. "TSA and its airline partners are cooperating with the ongoing law enforcement investigation."
In its statement, the TSA also said airlines are responsible for barring unticketed travelers from their flights.
"Beyond the TSA security checkpoint, the boarding procedure at the terminal gate to enter the aircraft is monitored by the airline," a TSA spokesperson wrote.
On Feb. 5, a Russian man who boarded a flight from Denmark to LAX without a ticket, passport or visa was sentenced to time already served and ordered to pay for the flight he stowed away on. 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.
Ochigava, who held both Russian and Israeli passports, was found guilty last month in Los Angeles federal court of one count of being a stowaway on an aircraft.