Svetlana Dali spent seven months in prison after admitting to sneaking onto a flight from New York City to Paris without a boarding pass, and sensationally claimed she was poisoned
A stowaway who boarded Delta Flight from New York to Paris without a ticket claimed she was poisoned.
Svetlana Dali, 57, was found guilty in May of evading security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and boarding the Delta flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on November 26, 2024, without a ticket.
She was sentenced to time served – after spending seven months incarcerated – but was not released from custody as she faces new charges for trying to sneak on to another flight, reports ABC News and the Associated Press.
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Dali, who is a Russian citizen with U.S. residency, claimed at her sentencing in July that she needed to flee the U.S. because she was poisoned by the military.
Speaking through a translator, she said: “My actions were directed toward only one purpose: to save my life. I was forced to escape from the United States because I was poisoned.”
In a rant that lasted more than 30 minutes, People reports that she said: “I can draw a conclusion that I was poisoned by those military chemicals in the United States.”
During her two-day trial, Dali testified that she had gone to “where the people were boarding the flights,” and then she “just walked into the aeroplane,” ABC News reports.
She said airline staff did not ask her for a boarding pass and admitted that she did not have one. After walking through several security checkpoints, Dali eventually boarded the flight.
The plane departed around 10:37 p.m., but before landing in Paris, one of the flight attendants asked for her boarding pass. When she couldn’t provide one, the attendant “notified French law enforcement”.
She was detained in France and flew back to New York on Dec. 4, 2024, when she admitted to “flying as a stowaway”.
Though sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release, Dali remains in custody due to the new charges filed in Connecticut. Authorities allege she attempted to board another flight without a ticket at Bradley International Airport in November 2024.
Dali was detained in France and flew back to New York on December 4, 2024, when she admitted to “flying as a stowaway”
Her legal troubles continued later that December when she removed her ankle monitor after being released from custody – and attempted to cross into Canada via Buffalo, New York, according to the Associated Press.