A 32-year-old Florida man is facing felony charges after Broward Sheriff's Office investigators say he scaled a perimeter fence at a private aviation facility, climbed aboard a JetBlue Airbus A320 undergoing maintenance, and spent hours hiding in the plane's lavatory before crew members discovered him asleep. Sammuel Lackey now faces charges including unarmed burglary of an occupied conveyance, interrupting or impairing critical infrastructure, and criminal mischief over $1,000.
According to a police booking report cited by Tampa Free Press, Lackey scaled the fence at Jetscape Services on the night of Saturday, August 1, and made his way onto the airport's Air Operations Area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Surveillance video reviewed by investigators reportedly captured him boarding the parked jet through an open left rear door, using portable maintenance stairs that had been left in place, as detailed by AirlineHaber.
Maintenance crews working on the 2012 Airbus A320 were unaware of Lackey's presence when they wrapped up their work around 4:25 a.m. on Sunday, August 2. The crews locked the aircraft doors and towed the plane to a parking spot, still not realizing someone was hiding inside. Per the same account relayed through Local 10, Lackey remained in the lavatory until JetBlue crew members found him asleep at 5:39 a.m.
Overnight Discovery Forces a Costly Aircraft Swap
Once Lackey was discovered, JetBlue swapped in another plane to avoid stranding passengers who had been scheduled to fly on the affected aircraft. The airline reported that the disruption cost $2,400.96, a figure that, under Florida Statute § 806.13, is enough to elevate criminal mischief from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines, according to details compiled by Hussein & Webber, PL.
Lackey was booked into Broward County Main Jail on a total bond of $10,000. The charges against him stack up quickly under Florida law. The critical infrastructure charge alone, under Florida Statute § 812.141, is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, since state law explicitly extends critical infrastructure protections to aviation facilities and airport operations areas, according to the Florida Senate.
Burglary Charge Carries the Steepest Exposure
The most serious charge Lackey faces is unarmed burglary of an occupied conveyance, a second-degree felony under Florida Statute § 810.02 that can bring up to 15 years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. Attorney Richard Hornsby notes that Florida law broadly defines aircraft as conveyances, meaning surreptitious entry into a locked or occupied plane counts as felony burglary regardless of intent to steal or harm anyone.
It remains unclear whether federal authorities will pursue additional charges. Under 49 U.S.C. § 46314, knowingly entering a secure airport area in violation of security rules can carry federal penalties of up to one year in prison, or up to 10 years if done to commit a felony, plus TSA civil fines reaching $14,950, according to the Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney Blog. The TSA maintains independent authority to levy civil penalties or revoke PreCheck eligibility regardless of how the state case concludes, a process that could run separately from the Broward County proceedings.
A Private Facility With Wide-Open Ramp Access
The breach occurred at Jetscape Services, a fixed-base operator that runs a 24/7 facility at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport spanning more than 360,000 square feet, including hangar space and over six acres of private ramp space, per the company's own description of its operations. That scale of ground infrastructure, combined with an open aircraft door and stairs left in place overnight, appears to have given Lackey an unobstructed path from the perimeter fence to the tarmac.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is classified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Large Hub Primary Commercial Service Airport and routinely ranks among the busiest 20 commercial airports in the country by passenger volume, according to documentation filed with Broward County. That volume underscores the security standard the airport is expected to maintain across both its commercial terminals and the private aviation facilities operating on its grounds.
Perimeter breaches like this one are not isolated to South Florida. An intruder crawled under a fence at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in May and walked near active taxiways before being caught, while a February 2024 breach at Miami International Airport forced a temporary halt to terminal operations after an unauthorized individual got past a security checkpoint. Federal rules require commercial airports to maintain fencing and surveillance around their Air Operations Areas, though incidents like Lackey's show that physical perimeter gaps can still be exploited.
Whether Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood or Jetscape Services will change fencing or maintenance protocols following the Sheriff's Office investigation has not been addressed publicly. It also remains unresolved whether federal prosecutors will bring their own case against Lackey on top of the state charges already filed in Broward County.
