French citizen sentenced for document fraud after incident at Philadelphia airport

PHILADELPHIA – A French man was sentenced Tuesday in connection with a March 2013 incident at Philadelphia International Airport. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Philadelphia Police Department conducted the investigation.

Philippe Jeannard, 61, of La Rochelle, France, boarded a commercial airplane March 20 at Philadelphia International Airport. He possessed a fraudulent Air France identification card based on the identification of a former Air France employee and used that fraudulent identification card to gain access to the plane’s cockpit.

Jeannard was sentenced to time served. He has been in federal custody since March 21. He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection with an identification document at a May 2013 hearing in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

"No one needs to be reminded why document fraud poses a potential national security threat," said John Kelleghan, special agent in charge for HSI in Philadelphia. "Those who possess and utilize fraudulent identity documents to gain access to sensitive areas, like the cockpit of an aircraft, will be held accountable."

Jeannard will be deported and will not be permitted back into the United States without written permission from the Department of Homeland Security secretary.