The 9-year-old Minnesota boy who managed to board a flight bound for Las Vegas with no ticket or boarding pass has been ordered to remain in a youth facility for the time being.
Judge Joseph Klein ruled that the child, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, will stay where he has spent the past two months, during a Hennepin County Child protective services hearing, according to the Star Tribune.
During the meeting with lawyers and social workers that went on for more than an hour, officials said that the 9-year-old had a history of questionable behavior, but is steadily advancing.
The child's parents were also present for the hearing, during which Klein maintained that the mother and father should keep up with family therapy - a crucial aspect of his rehabilitation.
The boy, who has spent the past 60-odd days in a youth facility, was not present for the hearing, but a legally appointed guardian was there as his representative.
The 9-year-old boy first made headlines in early October, after he went to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and made it through three security checkpoints with no boarding pass and no ticket.
Video surveillance depicted the boy talking casually with a Delta gate agent. When the agent wasn't paying attention, the boy walked past him, down the jet way and onto the plane. He reportedly blended in with a family to get past another security checkpoint, the Star Tribune reported at the time.
The day before he got on Delta Flight 1651, the boy was seen on video walking around the airport. He then took a bag from an incoming flight, walked into a restaurant at the airport and asked one of the waiters to keep an eye on his belongings while he used the bathroom. He never came back.
But after news surfaced of the boy's puzzling actions, Hennepin County Human Services revealed that the kid had a history with the law. He was described as a "challenging" child.
He was arrested the week before the airport incident after being found joyriding in a stolen vehicle.
He also allegedly had a "history" of going into a water park in the area without paying. An email sent from the director of the county's Human Services and Public Health Department Janine Moore, stated that the child usually "waits until a large family is entering and joins them."
"Typically, staff can tell if a child is lying," Moore stated, in reference to conversations the state had with the young boy. "But with this child, they are unsure what is going on. This is a two-parent home, and there is at least one other child."
According to the child's father, who appeared on an interview in October, the boy began exhibiting strange behavior when he was about five years old. He was hard to control, the father, who kept his face covered in the hood of his sweatshirt during the meeting with reporters, said.
"I'm tired of people saying, 'He's a minor, there's nothing we can do,'" he said. "There's something someone can do. I don't want him hurt. I miss my son. I want my son home."
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