Midway Airport (Wikimedia Commons)

A Chicago man is facing a felony charge after prosecutors say he hopped a barbed wire fence at Midway Airport, stripped off his clothes and attempted to board a taxiing airplane this week.

A Cook County Judge set bail at $250,000 for 33-year-old Javier Martinez, who has been charged with a single count of criminal trespass to a restricted area in an airport. That means he must pay $25,000 to secure his release from jail, though he is currently being held at the suburban Madden Mental Health Center for observations.

According to Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Kelly, Martinez drove to Midway around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and parked his vehicle nearby on West 55th Street.

He then allegedly climbed over a barbed wire fence, ignoring multiple signs indicating that he was entering an area restricted to the public.

An airport supervisor saw Martinez — who by this point had removed his jacket and shirt — running across the taxiway, according to Kelly. The supervisor tried to get Martinez’s attention, but he removed his pants and continued running toward a private plane sitting on the taxiway, Kelly said.

When he reached the plane, Martinez jumped onto the wing and attempted to open a side door, Kelly said. The supervisor then caught up to Martinez and got him on the ground, while the plane’s first mate exited and helped hold Martinez until he could be taken into custody by airport security.

Martinez suffered various cuts across his body from the barbed wire, Kelly said, but no one else was harmed during the incident. His defense attorney Vincent Luisi said Martinez suffers from mental illness and lives with his parents who make sure he takes his proper medications “to make sure things like this don’t happen.”

Luisi sought a recognizance bond to let Martinez be released without paying any money, but Judge Maryam Ahmad refused.

“I can only imagine that the people in that plane must have been terrified not knowing what this defendant was about to do,” she said. “The court is very concerned about the safety of this defendant and the safety of the public.”

While she did set a monetary bond, Ahmad also entered an order for that bond to be reviewed by the next judge handling the case once Martinez is able to be present for his hearings.

He is next due in court April 8.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431