By Ivan Pereira
Despite mounting evidence that has been uncovered by federal investigators, the Nigerian man who has been accused of illegally flying, Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi, pleaded not guilty Monday in California federal court to stowaway charges.
The 24-year-old has been in custody since June 29 after the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration discovered he traveled to the West Coast with a phony boarding pass and tried to travel again with another improper pass, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Central California said.
On June 24, he was on board a Virgin America flight to LAX Airport and an attendant asked him for his boarding pass, since the seat he was in was supposed to be vacant, the criminal complaint said. He eventually produced a boarding pass with the wrong date and said he missed an earlier flight, according to the complaint.
The flight attendant alerted the pilots, who then contacted the authorities at LAX and asked the crew to keep an eye on Noibi, who had his college identification card as his only form of ID, the complaint said.
The boarding pass that was given to the flight attendants had a different person’s name, according to the complaint. When the FBI contacted the true owner of the pass, the owner said he had put the pass in his pocket before he got on the subway to John F. Kennedy International Airport, but could not find it when he reached the airport.
On June 29, Noibi was at LAX again and was trying to board a Delta flight to Atlanta with a boarding pass that had a June 28 date, according to the complaint. The traveler allegedly tried to use the same excuse that he missed an earlier flight, but TSA agents did not believe him and called in the FBI, the complaint said.
Noibi told investigators that he was in Los Angeles to recruit people for his software business, according to the complaint.
The agents found two more phony boarding passes in his pocket and 10 more inside his travel bag, the criminal complaint said.
If found guilty on his charges, Noibi faces up to 15 years in prison, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
