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BROOKLYN (CN) — The woman accused of sneaking onto a Delta Air Lines flight from New York City to Paris was remanded into custody Wednesday after prosecutors learned she cut off her ankle bracelet and tried to flee to Canada.
Svetlana Dali, 57, was charged with knowingly and intentionally stowing away on an airplane after law enforcement officials discovered she evaded security checkpoints and snuck onto an international flight in November without a boarding pass or passport.
In December, Dali was released on a recognizance bond with electronic monitoring and ordered to abide by a curfew. She was required to stay with a friend from church in Philadelphia and directed not to leave the city or the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
But prosecutors say she broke most of those rules in less than two weeks when she attempted to cross the border into Canada. On Dec. 16, 2024, law enforcement officers apprehended Dali as she tried to sneak into Canada.
“She cut off her ankle monitor less than 10 days after she was released,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Theodora said at a bail violation hearing on Wednesday.
The friend Dali was staying with informed prosecutors that the defendant had cut off the GPS tracker and left it at the house, prosecutors said.
Theodora added that there is no “condition or combination of conditions” that would prevent Dali from attempting to flee again.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo agreed, and remanded Dali into custody.
He added that Dali’s attempt to again flee the country “mirrored the underlying offense” and she would likely attempt something similar again.
Grand jurors indicted Dali on the stowaway charge on Monday. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. She pleaded not guilty at Wednesday’s hearing.
Her attorney Michael Schneider did not present an argument against returning her to custody, but indicated that his team is in plea talks with the government and hopes to avoid a trial.
Prosecutors say Dali was able to board the Paris flight by blending in with a group of people getting their IDs checked before slipping through.
She was discovered as a stowaway while the flight was midair and was taken into custody after landing in Paris.
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