An investigation was under way today into how a parolee fresh out of jail managed to evade security at Lindbergh Field and get onto a Los Angeles-bound plane without a ticket, authorities reported.
Marc Rory Duncan, 38, allegedly walked through an emergency door at the airport's Commuter Terminal about 11 a.m. Tuesday, crossed the tarmac and boarded the propeller aircraft along with several dozen passengers, according to Marguerite Elicone, a spokeswoman for the Port of San Diego.
"The suspect was able to somehow blend in with them and get on the plane,'' she said.
An alarm notified security personnel about the breach, Elicone said. As officers were en route to the tarmac, airport personnel contacted the pilot of the commuter aircraft, who directed a flight attendant to conduct a passenger head count.
When contacted by the cabin-crew member, Duncan, who reportedly appeared disheveled, was cooperative and immediately debarked. Security personnel arrested him outside the plane without incident, Elicone said, adding that the suspect was in custody six minutes after the emergency alarm sounded.
The parolee told the officers he had sneaked onto the aircraft in an attempt to "get home,'' the spokeswoman said.
The 27 ticketed passengers on the flight were taken off the plane to allow for a security sweep before the flight was cleared to proceed.
Duncan, who had been released from jail the previous day following a stint for theft, was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor counts of trespassing on airport property and evading aviation security, as well as parole violation, a felony. He was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Thursday morning.
San Diego Harbor Police will work with airport officials and the federal Transportation Security Administration to determine how Duncan got past guards and screeners, to "to make sure this doesn't happen again,'' Elicone said.
