Woman who snuck onto Paris flight charged in federal court

BROOKLYN (CN) — Svetlana Dali, the woman accused of sneaking onto a Delta Air Lines flight from New York City to Paris without a boarding pass or passport in late November, was charged Thursday in Brooklyn federal court.

Dali, 57, was arrested Wednesday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport and brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which she described as “torture.” She is charged with knowingly and intentionally stowing away on an airplane.

As outlined in the complaint, prosecutors say Dali accessed a security checkpoint line reserved for airline employees.

When the lane merged with the public, they say Dali blended in with a group of people getting their IDs checked before slipping through. She was then screened and boarded without presenting a boarding pass.

“Delta agents, who were busy helping ticketed passengers board, did not stop her or ask her to present a boarding pass before she boarded the plane,” prosecutors say in their complaint.

Dali was discovered as a stowaway while the plane was midair and was taken into custody when she landed in Paris.

In an interview with the FBI, Dali admitted to flying as a stowaway.

“She stated that she did not have a plane ticket and that she intentionally evaded TSA security officials and Delta employees so that she could travel without buying one,” an FBI agent stated in the complaint.

But Dali did not smuggle anything onto the plane and went through the standard security screening and body scanner, her attorney Michael Schneider said.

Schneider, an attorney with the Brooklyn Federal Defenders, said her actions were closer to a “turnstile jump,” which would carry a lesser penalty.

Schneider added that Dali believes she was poisoned after arriving in Paris, and believed her life would be in danger if she stayed at the Brooklyn detention center.

After she was brought to the detention center Wednesday night, Dali said she vomited, fainted and was denied medical assistance.

Still, the parties reached an agreement for Dali to be temporarily detained until they can come up with a bail package. She is expected to return to court Friday at 2 p.m.

“We’re more concerned about the risk of flight here rather than the nature of the offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Theodora said. “We want to make sure she has a stable residence.”

According to Schneider, Dali has permanent residence in the United States and at once point lived in the Philadelphia area.

Dali filed a civil lawsuit against the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and other authorities claiming she was sold by the Russian Federation to her ex-husband for $20,000. She also says in her lawsuit that she was abused and poisoned.

Schneider declined to comment after the hearing.

Follow @NikaSchoonover