A man who evaded security at Philadelphia International Airport and boarded his flight as police searched for him has been ordered to pay $59,143 in restitution for the cancelation of his doomed American Airlines flight, federal prosecutors said.
Jonathan Beaulieu, 32, pleaded guilty in February to charges stemming from his brazen attempt to catch a flight without going through the airport’s security checkpoint. Beaulieu is the co-founder of Millstone Property Group, a Philadelphia-based real estate investment and property management company that serves several apartment buildings in the city and operates in four states.
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Just after midnight on June 26, 2024, Beaulieu approached a security guard working an exit-only lane for Terminal C., prosecutors said. Beaulieu told the guard he had left his phone in the airport and needed to get it, but the guard denied him entry and called a police dispatcher for assistance. The dispatcher said police couldn’t help find the phone.
When Beaulieu began walking past the guard, she repeatedly told him he was not authorized to enter the airport, investigators said. Beaulieu then took out a $50 bill and put it on the guard’s desk to try to bribe her. She called the police dispatcher again and Beaulieu — after arguing with the guard for several minutes — walked past her into the terminal, prosecutors said.
Police began searching the airport for Beaulieu, who had a plane ticket for an American Airlines flight departing from Gate A-20. Authorities used security cameras to follow his movements, but by the time they got to the gate, Beaulieu already was on board and the plane was preparing for takeoff.
The captain of the flight was told a passenger had bypassed security, triggering a required search of the aircraft that forced everyone to get off the plane. Beaulieu was arrested at the scene and the flight was canceled.
Beaulieu pleaded guilty to evading airport security, a charge that could have resulted in a one-year prison sentence. As part of his plea agreement, Beaulieu was sentenced to one year of probation in addition to the restitution owed to American Airlines. The case was investigated by the FBI and Philadelphia police.