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CHICAGO – A Californian man who police say was too afraid to fly because of COVID-19 hid for three months in a secure area at O’Hare International Airport until his arrest over the weekend -end, prosecutors said on Sunday.
Aditya Singh, 36, is charged with felony trespassing in a restricted area of an airport and theft.
In bond court on Sunday, prosecutors said Singh arrived at O’Hare on a flight from Los Angeles on October 19 and had lived in the airport’s security zone since, undetected.
Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz reacted incredulously on Sunday after a prosecutor detailed the allegations.
“So if I understand you correctly,” Ortiz said, “you are telling me that an unauthorized, self-employed person would have lived in a secure part of the O’Hare airport terminal from October 19, 2020 to January 16. 2021, and has not been detected? I want to understand you well.
Early Saturday afternoon, two United Airlines employees approached Singh and demanded to see his ID. Deputy State Attorney Kathleen Hagerty said Singh lowered his face mask and showed them an airport ID badge he wore around his neck.
The badge actually belonged to an operations manager who reported her missing on October 26. The employees called 911. Police took Singh into custody on Saturday morning at Terminal 2 near gate F12.
Hagerty said Singh allegedly found the badge at the airport and was “afraid to go home because of COVID.” She told the judge that other passengers were giving her food.
Singh lives in the Orange suburb of Los Angeles with roommates and has no criminal history, according to deputy defender Courtney Smallwood. She said he had a master’s degree in hospitality and was unemployed.
Smallwood admitted the circumstances were unusual, but noted the allegations were not violent. It is not known what brought Singh to Chicago and if he has any ties to the region.
As a condition of bail, Ortiz has banned Singh from re-entering the airport if he is able to post the $ 1,000 he needs for his release. He is due to return to court on January 27.
“The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period in which this occurred,” the judge said. “Being in a secure part of the airport under a fake identity badge allegedly, based on the need for airports to be absolutely secure so that people feel safe to travel, I find these alleged actions make him a danger to the community.
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