Canadian man accused of hijacking luggage tug bonds out of jail

Richard Hogh, 27, took pants off before getting on luggage tug

ORLANDO, Fla. – A man accused of hijacking a luggage tug from Orlando International Airport is now out jail.

The original bond for Richard Hogh, 27, was originally set for $5,000 by a judge after the incident occurred at Orlando International Airport on Friday morning.

However, a judge lowered his bond for his grand theft charge to $2,500 on Saturday. The bond for his trespassing charge was $100. The incident occurred on Friday, when he is accused of acting belligerent and was escorted off departing United Flight 272, which was headed to Canada via Chicago.

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Police said Hogh boarded the plane and sat in an unassigned seat in first class. When airline officials asked Hogh to move to his assigned seat, he told them he was a pilot and demanded to be seated next to the pilot in the jump seat, according to an arrest affidavit.

He was escorted off the plane and back to the gate to rebook his flight. Instead, police said Hogh followed a woman with a cleaning cart into a service elevator. The woman saw Hogh didn't have an airport security badge so she told him to get off the elevator.

During the conversation, the elevator doors opened on the ground floor at the ramp area of the airport, which is a security-controlled area not open to the public.

Hogh took his pants off, got off the elevator and climbed into the passenger's seat of a luggage tug, the electric vehicle used to transport baggage from the terminal to the plane and back, accoridng to the arrest affidavit. He told the airport employee who was in the driver's seat that he had a flight he needed to catch.

A firefighter was able to run along side the tug and subdue Hogh, according to the arrest affidavit.

Hogh has been ordered not to return to Orlando International Airport.


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