A man was arrested after employees found him sleeping on a JetBlue plane in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, deputies say.
Sammuel Lackey, 32, is now charged with unarmed burglary of an occupied conveyance, criminal mischief over $1,000, and interrupting or impairing critical infrastructure.
A little after 5:30 a.m., JetBlue employees discovered Lackey asleep on a 2012 JetBlue Airbus A320 during a routine inspection, according to a probable cause affidavit. Lackey had climbed over a fence and into the secured area before boarding the plane using portable stairs meant for maintenance workers. He then hid in the plane’s bathroom. At one point, about an hour before he was discovered, the plane was moved to a parking space, but Lackey remained undetected.
After the employees found Lackey, deputies escorted him off of the aircraft and took him into custody, the affidavit states. The discovery prevented the plane from being moved on schedule, delaying a flight and forcing JetBlue to use a different aircraft instead, according to the affidavit, an interruption estimated to cost the airline over $2,400. His climbing over the fence also cost $200 or more in labor due to his interruption of “critical infrastructure,” the affidavit said.
Lackey is being held in Broward Main Jail on $10,000 bond.