Who is Aditya Singh? Man who lived undetected at Chicago's O’Hare airport for 3 months over Covid fears arrested
Aditya Singh, a 36-year-old from California was arrested for living in a secure area of the O’Hare International Airport, Chicago. Reports said Singh was afraid to fly out due to Covid-19 and hid out for three months at the airport. The Chicago Tribune said he was charged with criminal trespassing in a restricted area of the airport as well as theft.
The site also added that Singh was found wearing an airport ID badge that was reported as stolen on October 20, 2020. He was confronted by two airport workers after he arrived from Los Angeles and was subsequently arrested. During a hearing on Sunday, January 17, he said he was “scared to go home due to Covid."
Who is Aditya Singh?
Not much is known about the man, but it was reported he had a master's degree in hospitality, was unemployed and lived with his roommates in Orange, Los Angeles. When actually confronted by United airlines employees and was asked for his identification, he reportedly lowered his face mask and produced an airport ID that he wore around his neck, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Hagerty. The badge belonged to one of the operations managers. Singh was taken into custody on Saturday, January 16.
Other passengers were providing food to Singh, Haggerty added. She also explained he was scared to go home due to fear of the pandemic. Singh does not have a criminal background. The report also said Singh claimed to have found the badge. His bail was set at $1,000 with the judge also ordering Singh to stay out of the airport. The reaction of Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz was termed "incredulous" by the site.
"So if I understand you correctly," Ortiz said, "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? I want to understand you correctly." Ortiz had queried.
Although the case was highly unusual, Assistant Public Defender Courtney Smallwood said the allegations were not violent. Singh is due to be back on the court on January 27. "The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period of time that this occurred,” the judge explained. "Being in a secured part of the airport under a fake ID badge allegedly, based upon the need for airports to be absolutely secure so that people feel safe to travel, I do find those alleged actions do make him a danger to the community." Judge Ortiz also orderied him to go onto electronic monitoring if he's released from jail.
The Chicago Department of Aviation, which oversees the city's airports, released the following statement: "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.”