ATLANTA (AP) - A Delta Air Lines passenger is accused of flying from Atlanta to Birmingham in one person’s name, then obtaining boarding passes in someone else’s name for two more flights on United Airlines.
Robert Quran Hick also is accused of twice trying to enter a secured area of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport by going up a downward escalator after arriving on the flight from Atlanta on Sunday.
Hick was able to get a United Airlines representative at the Alabama airport to book him on two other flights with that airline to Chicago and Colorado Springs, FBI Special Agent Adam Hutzell wrote in a sworn affidavit.
Hick, 30, faces federal charges of fraud in connection with identification documents - a felony - and a misdemeanor charge of entry by false pretenses.
Kevin Butler of the federal public defender’s office, which is representing Hick, didn’t immediately return a phone call Tuesday.
Hick is accused of flying from Atlanta to Birmingham on Delta using the name of U.W., Hutzell wrote in the affidavit, which uses initials for most of the names involved. After arriving in Birmingham, he told a United representative that he was M.M. to obtain boarding passes for the Chicago and Colorado Springs flights on that airline, court documents state.
It was not immediately clear how Hick would have been able to obtain the boarding passes from the United agent.
“We are fully cooperating with the authorities who are reviewing this matter,” United Airlines officials said in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon.
When Hick approached the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Birmingham airport, the FBI says, he presented the United boarding passes and told a TSA agent that “M.M.” was his father. But he was unable to provide any supporting documentation to verify his identify, Hutzell wrote in the affidavit.
“Upon being interviewed by an FBI agent, Hick provided a false name and date of birth to the FBI agent,” Hutzell wrote. “Subsequent investigation revealed that Hick had, in fact, provided a false name and date of birth to the FBI agent and his actual identity was confirmed to be Robert Quran Hick.”
At Hick’s initial court appearance on Monday, where prosecutors requested that he remain in jail, bond was denied, court records show. A detention hearing is set for 1 p.m. Friday.
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