Russian man with no passport or ticket flew from Denmark to California: feds

A man without a passport or a plane ticket managed to board a Scandinavian Airlines flight in Copenhagen, Denmark, last month and arrive, undetected, in Los Angeles, California, before being discovered and detained, and later indicted.  

The man, Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, talked with federal officials, with the assistance of a Russian-speaking federal agent on Nov. 5, one day after his flight arrived in Los Angeles, according to The New York Times.

His story raised more questions than it answered, as he claimed that he hadn’t slept in three days, that he “did not remember how he got on the plane” and “would not explain how or when he got to Copenhagen, or what he was doing there,” according to an FBI affidavit.

He also claimed that he had a Ph.D. in economics and marketing, that he had worked as an economist in Russia years ago, and that he “did not understand what is going on.” A search of his bag turned up a Russian identification card, good for travel within Russia, and an Israeli identification card but no international passport, which is required for entry into the U.S.

The airline supplied photo and video footage to investigators, but gave no public explanation of how he was able to get through security and board the flight without a ticket or a passport. The crew described some of his odd behavior during the flight such as changing seats several times and asking for two meals at each serving.

Ochigava was indicted last month by a federal grand jury on a charge of being a stowaway, a felony that could result in five years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty, according to the Times.