'Serial stowaway' found mentally fit to stand trial, freed on ankle monitor to Chicago treatment facility
CHICAGO _ A Cook County judge on Wednesday found a woman known as the "serial stowaway" mentally fit to stand trial and ordered her released on electronic monitoring from a state mental health hospital in Elgin, Ill.
The decision by Judge Maura Slattery Boyle comes almost four months after the same judge found Marilyn Hartman unfit and transferred her to the Elgin facility for treatment that included group therapy and medication.
Slattery Boyle also noted that Hartman did not make any escape attempts while at the Elgin facility.
A doctor also testified Wednesday at the hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building that Hartman "was fully cooperative with the entire treatment plan that was formulated for her."
The judge allowed Hartman to be released to Safe Haven, a treatment facility in Chicago, but she must wear an ankle monitor.
Hartman, 66, faces felony charges including burglary after a January incident in which she allegedly got past security, boarded a jet and flew to London's Heathrow Airport without a ticket.
After being returned to Chicago, charged and released on bond, Hartman was arrested again _ this time after she was spotted at O'Hare International Airport in violation of a court order barring her from the airport.
_Chicago Tribune
