There she was, hiding out in the restrooms on a Delta flight from New York to Paris on November 26th . . . without a ticket or a boarding pass. Her name is Svetlana Dali, and she was, of course, discovered and taken into custody upon landing in Paris.

After one aborted attempt to return her to the U.S. on November 30th, in which Delta refused to carry her when she began raising a ruckus on boarding a return flight, she was finally brought back home on December 4th. She was charged with one count of being a stowaway on an aircraft without consent and released without bail . . . but with a number of conditions. These included not leaving a specified area, surrendering any travel documents, wearing a GPS monitor, abiding by a curfew, and submitting to recommended mental health evaluation and treatment. [Mark Morales, Taylor Romine, Aaron Cooper and Chris Boyette, CNN, December 16, 2024.]

The Russian national, who holds permanent residency status in the United States, said she had nowhere to stay. So a kind-hearted acquaintance from her church in Philadelphia — where she evidently had lived at one time — agreed to let her stay with him for the time being.

But it appears that Slippery Svetlana got the travel bug again, because on Sunday of this week, she managed to cut off her ankle monitor and catch a Greyhound bus headed for Canada on Monday. Her roommate, upon returning home and finding her ankle bracelet without an ankle in it, reported her absence to the authorities. She was later removed from the bus before reaching Canada, placed in the custody of the FBI, and was expected to be turned over to U.S. Marshals in Buffalo, New York today. [Id.]

No further details are available regarding her location and arrest, as the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and Dali’s own attorney have thus far declined to comment. [Id.]

*. *. *

So where do we begin? My first question was why she had been released without bail on the stowaway charge. The judge in that case determined that she wasn’t a serious flight risk, because — after all — how many times can a person successfully carry off that kind of a caper . . . right?

Wrong. The judge did impose major restrictions on her movements. But ankle monitors — as now appears obvious — are not insurmountable obstacles for the highly motivated. And while Svetlana had learned her lesson when it came to sneaking onto commercial airplanes, the judge forgot to take into consideration good old Greyhound — cheap, accessible, anonymous, no-security buses to anywhere on land.

And this lady was motivated. She clearly wanted out of the United States. She had applied for asylum in France a few years ago, according to a Paris airport official. [Id.] I don’t know why she thought she needed asylum . . . unless it had to do with those two lawsuits she filed recently, claiming to have been a victim of military-grade chemical weapons and a kidnapping plot. [Id.]

Okay, sure . . . whatever. I once met a man in Kyiv — a coal miner from the Donbas region who was taking part in a demonstration — who wanted me to tell my government in Washington that the KGB had had his mother’s dentist implant a microscopically tiny transmitter in her denture so they could track her.

I try not to judge.

*. *. *

But seriously, what is this woman’s problem? I’m not a medical professional, but it’s painfully obvious that she has one . . . a problem, that is. Lacking details about her history, her family background, her life experiences, it’s impossible even to make an educated guess. But one thing is clear: she needs help.

And I hope she gets it . . . preferably before she heads for the Mexican border.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/17/24