Russian man charged after flying from Denmark to LA without a passport or ticket

A Russian man has been charged after he flew from Denmark to the US without a passport, ticket or visa.

Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on November 4 via Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen.

He couldn't produce a passport, according to a complaint filed in a Los Angeles federal court. and he wasn't on the the flight's list of passengers either.

Ochigava claimed that he couldn't remember going through security in Copenhagen Airport.

The flight crew of the airline told investigators that Ochigava was in a seat that was supposed to be unoccupied and that he kept wandering around the plane, switching seats and trying to talk to other passengers.

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

A spokesperson for the airline did not immediately respond to ITV News' request for comment.

When Ochigava arrived at LAX, he didn’t have a passport or visa to enter the United States,

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

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

Ochigava was charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft and pleaded not guilty in a December 5 arraignment.

A trial is scheduled for December 26, while Ochigava remains in custody.

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