The nine-year-old boy who managed to board a flight from the Twin Cities to Las Vegas with no ticket reportedly has a record.
In fact, this youngster seems to be a bonafide whiz-kid, as far as conning goes: before he stowed away on a Delta Airlines plane on Monday, he allegedly stole a car, sneaked into a water park without paying and has been visited by child protection investigators, according to a Hennepin County official who emailed information to the Star Tribune.
In the email, director of the county's Human Services and Public Health Department Janine Moore reported that child protection agents have visited the boy's family on four occasions, but not for abuse cases.
"The reports have been inconsistent and there have been no injuries to the child; however, there is a pattern of behavior," she wrote in the email labeled "private data."
Moore wrote that the child is known to Hennepin County Human Services staff as a "challenging" one. He was arrested on Highway 35 last week joyriding in a stolen vehicle. He also has a "history" of going into a water park in Bloomington without paying. Usually, he "waits until a large family is entering and joins them." He has told county officials that his mother threatened him by putting a knife to his throat, and has also said that his mom got "stabbed and died."
"Typically, staff can tell if a child is lying," Moore stated, in reference to the county's conversations with the young boy. "But with this child, they are unsure what is going on. This is a two-parent home, and there is at least one other child."
The nine-year-old boy reportedly ran away from home last Thursday and went to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, where his mother works. He was seen on video talking casually with a Delta gate agent. When the agent was distracted, the young boy walked past him, down the jet way and onto the plane. He managed to evade two other security checks before boarding the aircraft. TSA officials told the Star Tribune that he blended in with a family to get past security.
The day before he boarded Delta Flight 1651, he was seen on surveillance cameras walking around the airport. He reportedly took a bag from an incoming flight, then went to a restaurant in the airport. After sitting down, he requested that one of the waiters keep an eye on his bag while he went to the bathroom. He never came back.
The Star Tribune reported that flight attendants didn't realize the kid was alone and without a boarding pass and ticket until Flight 1651 was in the air.
