Russian-Israeli man who tailgated passenger onto flight from Copenhagen to LA where he arrived without a passport is found guilty of being a stowaway

A Russian-Israeli man who put a passenger on the back of a flight from Denmark to California has been found guilty of stowawaying.

Sergei Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, faces a prison sentence of up to five years for boarding a plane from Copenhagen to Los Angeles without a passport or ticket on November 4.

Jurors found Ochigava guilty of the federal crime of stowaway on an airplane after a three-day trial, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The suspected passenger managed to board a Scandinavian Airlines flight without documents, but was apprehended by flight attendants after switching between several unassigned seats and eating chocolate from the cabin crew.

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial showing that Ochigava entered a terminal at Copenhagen Airport on November 3 by tailgating an unsuspecting passenger through a security turnstile.

He initially told investigators he was “not sure” how he ended up on the plane

The next day he managed to board a plane unnoticed. But the flight attendants became suspicious after realizing his seat would be unoccupied and alerted investigators.

After departure, Ochigava continued to wander around the plane, changing seats and trying to talk to other passengers, who ignored him, according to a complaint filed Nov. 6 in Los Angeles federal court.

He also “ate two meals during each meal, and at one point attempted to eat chocolate belonging to cabin crew members,” the complaint said.

Customs and Border Protection agents searched his bag and found what “appeared to be Russian identification cards and an Israeli identification card,” federal officials said in court documents.

They found a photo in his phone that partially showed a passport showing his name, date of birth and passport number, but not his photo, they said.

Ochigava “provided false and misleading information about his trip to the United States, including initially telling CBP that he had left his U.S. passport on the plane,” the complaint said.

The document added that he “claimed that he had not slept in three days and did not understand what was going on.”

Ochigava passed security checks but was arrested by border police who confiscated his documents and ordered him to remain in the terminal

He attempted to board flights to London and Bangkok before boarding the SAS flight to LAX

The dual Russian-Israeli citizen is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles until his sentencing on February 5.

Earlier in the investigation into Ochigava, details emerged suggesting security lapses could have allowed him to escape despite not having a passport or ticket.

He was picked up by border staff at Copenhagen airport, who discovered that he had overstayed his Israeli passport and had no visas in his Russian passport.

Ochigava had his documents confiscated and was ordered to remain in the terminal. However, he failed to do so when he tried to board several flights to Bangkok and London.

He eventually made it to the gate of flight SK 931 where he allegedly re-boarded the flight to LA by tailgating a passenger.

And when later questioned by the FBI, airline staff said that “nothing seemed wrong” with Ochigava, even though he had changed seats several times during the flight.

He was not on the manifest of flight SK 931, nor on the passenger list of any other international flight.

FBI Officer Caroline Walling said that the staff did not notice that there was an additional passenger on board because, although they counted the passengers in each section to check if the plane was balanced, they did not count them or check against them. of the flight logbook.

When the flight arrived at LAX, Ochigava disembarked as normal and presented himself at customs.