Serial stowaway and erstwhile local tourist strikes again

By Anne H. Oman
Reporter-At-Large
January 22, 2018 7:28 p.m.

Marilyn Hartman, the serial stowaway and scourge of the federal Transportation Security Administration, who previously enjoyed the hospitality of two of Nassau County’s diverse hostelries – the Omni Amelia Island Plantation resort and the Nassau County Jail – was on the move again last week. The 66-year-old Illinois woman, who looks like a generic grandmother, flew to London and back — with neither ticket nor boarding pass nor passport.

According to news reports, the notorious gray lady entered Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport January 14 and walked past two TSA security officers who were busy checking other passengers. She then went through routine screening and tried to board a flight to Connecticut, but was rebuffed at the gate and told to sit down. However, she was apparently allowed to remain in the part of the airport past the security gates. She later took a shuttle from the domestic terminal to the international terminal – despite the fact that, as a spokesperson for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office told The New York Times, “this shuttle requires a passport and a plane ticket to board.” Later, the slippery senior citizen boarded a British Airways flight to London’s Heathrow Airport, hiding in a rest room until she thought the coast was clear and then finding a seat. Alas, her international idyll ended when she failed to produce a passport for U.K. Immigration officials, and she was flown back to Chicago to face felony charges. At a hearing Saturday, a judge released her on her own recognizance, but, at last report, she was residing in Cook County Jail as she has no local residence, a requirement of her release.

A retired legal secretary, Ms. Hartman, like many retirees, apparently decided to while away her golden years traveling. In February 2014, she tried, unsuccessfully, to board three separate flights from San Francisco to Hawaii and was sentenced to 18 months of probation. Sixth months later, she eluded security and boarded a flight from San Jose, California, to Los Angeles, but was arrested when she got off the plane. Sentenced to jail time, she was released after a few days due to overcrowding. Later the same month, she was found hanging around Phoenix (Arizona) Sky Harbor International Airport and charged with trespassing.

A year after failing to get to Hawaii, Ms. Hartman headed for another warm place, boarding a flight from Minnesota to Jacksonville – again without benefit of boarding pass or ticket. When she arrived, on February 8, 2015, a transportation van was conveniently waiting to take guests participating in the Biggest Loser Resort program to the Omni Amelia Island Plantation resort. Asked by the van driver is she was one Maria Sandgren, she said that she was. She rode to the resort and checked into a villa under that name.

According to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Deputy who arrested Ms. Hartman and whose account was published in the Fernandina Observer on February 9, 2015:

“Later in the day, the real Maria Sandgren arrived to check in. Robert Allison, who is a coordinator for the Biggest Loser Resort program, called the room that the defendant was staying in and asked her what her name was again. She stated her name was Maria Sandgren. He asked her to come to the front desk thinking an error had occurred during check in. The defendant then vanished. On 2/9/15, the defendant was located staying in a room on the first floor of the resort that was being renovated.”

Charged with Fraud/Impersonation and Defrauding an Innkeeper, Ms. Hartman was booked into the Nassau County Jail. During her stay there, the Fernandina Observer asked to interview her but was told that, under advice of counsel, she was not granting interviews. On April 15, 2015, Nassau County Judge Wesley Poole ruled that Ms. Hartman was not mentally competent to stand trial and dismissed the charges.

Ms. Hartman has said she is homeless and feels safer in airports than on the street. In February 2016, she was arrested at O’Hare and ordered to spend six months in a mental health treatment facility.

The treatment apparently did not cure her travel mania, as this latest incident attests. The London trip was Ms. Hartman’s first successful international venture – as far as anyone knows.

At press time, the Transportation Security Administration was not answering media inquiries “due to the government shutdown.”

Editor’s Note: Anne H. Oman relocated to Fernandina Beach from Washington, D.C. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The Washington Times, Family Circle and other publications.