Aditya Singh Los Angeles man arrested for sleeping and living at a secure area of Chicago O’Hare airport for 3 months over COVID fears.
A California man who feared contracting the deadly coronavirus amid the ongoing pandemic was arrested for living at a secure area of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for nearly three months, according to a report.
Aditya Singh had hidden out in the airport from Oct. 19 — when he arrived from Los Angeles — until Saturday undetected — when two airport workers confronted him, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing prosecutors.
Singh was found wearing an airport ID badge that was reported stolen on Oct. 26, the report said.
The workers called police, who arrested Singh, charging him with criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport and theft.
At a Sunday hearing, a prosecutor said Singh was ‘scared to go home due to COVID,’ according to the report.
Aditya Singh, 36, allegedly lived inside a secure area of O’Hare International Airport for three months before he was caught on Saturday. https://t.co/sPh6a5KdrK
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) January 18, 2021
How did Singh end up in Chicago?
The man also claimed to have found the badge, prosecutors said.
The man who was bereft of funds managed to survive by getting food from passengers.
Singh lives with roommates in the Los Angeles suburb of Orange and does not have a criminal record, prosecutors said. He also has a master’s degree in hospitality but is unemployed, they told the court.
It was not clear why Singh flew to Chicago in the first place.
A judge set Singh’s bail at $1,000 and ordered him to stay out of O’Hare International Airport, the report said. Singh is scheduled to reappear in court on January 27th.
O’Hare Airport is the busiest airport in the world for takeoffs and landings, with pre-pandemic passenger numbers of 84.6 million per year.
