Some people can get lost in an airport as massive as O’Hare International in Chicago.
This guy did it on purpose.
In shades of the Tom Hanks movie ‘The Terminal,’ a man who had a fear of contracting COVID-19 was arrested on Saturday when authorities found he had been living in the airport for three months, according to multiple reports.
Apparently, Aditya Singh of California had flown to Chicago back in October but was so afraid of the coronavirus that he didn’t want to fly back to Los Angeles. Instead, he hid in the airport from October 19 until January 16, when he was finally confronted by two airport workers.
The workers called 911 and Singh was arrested.
Now the focus has turned to security at O’Hare.
Singh was charged with felony criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport and misdemeanor theft, and when he made his first appearance in Cook County court on Sunday, Judge Susana Ortiz was shocked.
“So if I understand you correctly, you’re telling me that an unauthorized, nonemployee individual was allegedly living within a secure part of the O’Hare airport terminal from Oct. 19, 2020, to Jan. 16, 2021, and was not detected?” Ortiz asked incredulously. “I want to understand you correctly.”
Apparently, Singh had used a badge that was reported stolen by a United Airlines operations manager on Oct. 26.
The Chicago Department of Aviation released a statement saying “CDA has no higher priority than the safety and security of our airports, which is maintained by a coordinated and multilayered law enforcement network. While this incident remains under investigation, we have been able to determine that this gentleman did not pose a security risk to the airport or to the traveling public. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners on a thorough investigation of this matter.”
