Jan 16, 2025
Svetlana Dali, who stowed away on a Delta flight from New York City to Paris, was sent to jail without bail Wednesday after she cut her ankle bracelet and tried to flee to Canada. Dali, 57, removed her court-ordered monitoring device on Dec. 15 and left it on the floor of her pal’s home in Pennsylvania where she was staying, according to court documents. From there, she hopped on a Greyhound bus, but was stopped at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry in Buffalo, N.Y., the next day. “There is simply no condition or combination of conditions that will assure Defendant will not again attempt to flee or that she would be likely to abide by such conditions,” Brooklyn Federal Court Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo ruled Wednesday. Jeffrey T. Barnes/APFILE – U.S. vehicles wait in line to cross into Canada at the Peace Bridge Plaza in Buffalo, N.Y. (Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP) Dali is working out a plea deal with prosecutors, according to court filings, and is due back in court March 5. She was formally indicted earlier this week on a federal stowaway charge that carries a maximum five-year sentence, and pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. Dali tried to bluff her way past a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at JFK Airport Terminal 4 on Nov. 26, but was turned away when she couldn’t present a boarding pass, according to a criminal complaint. So she got into a special line for airline employees, mixing in with a large Air Europa flight crew, the complaint alleges. She then got back into the boarding line, and was screened by the TSA alongside passengers with tickets, the feds allege. Dali then boarded Delta Flight 264 while the airline’s agents were distracted helping other passengers. After takeoff, she moved between an empty seat and one of the bathrooms at the back of the plane until she was finally caught. FILE – Delta planes are seen at Terminal 4 at JFK Airport in New York on December 22, 2020. (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images) French law enforcement met the plane at Charles de Gaulle Airport, according to the complaint. Once under arrest in Paris, Dali asked for asylum, but was denied on Thanksgiving Day. Dali said she believes she was poisoned shortly after landing in France, her Federal Defenders lawyer, Michael Schneider, said at a court appearance last month. Schneider said at Wednesday’s hearing that he’s seeking a mental health evaluation for his client, the Associated Press reported.
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