Man 'Scared Of COVID-19' Lived In Chicago Airport For 3 Months

A California man who claimed to be too sacred to fly due to COVID-19 lived inside the secured area of O'Hare International Airport undetected for three months, authorities said.

Aditya Singh, 36, had allegedly managed to hide inside the secured area of the airport and survived on food given by passengers until he got arrested over the weekend. He has been charged with felony criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport and misdemeanor theft, reported Chicago Tribune.

Singh reportedly arrived at the airport on a flight from Los Angeles on Oct. 19. He had lived there since then and was only busted on Saturday after two United Airlines employees asked him for an airport ID badge. Singh showed them the badge he was wearing, which turned out to be the badge of an operations manager that had been reported missing since Oct. 26.

The employees called 911 and reported the incident. Singh was taken into custody at around 12:10 p.m. EST on Saturday in Terminal 2, near Gate F12.

Singh was produced to Cook County Court on Sunday for a bond hearing. The prosecutors told the court that Singh had found the badge at the airport and stayed there as he was "scared to go home due to COVID."

His bail was set at $1,000 and the court banned him from entering the O'Hare International Airport again. He is scheduled to reappear in court on Jan. 27.

According to Assistant Public Defender Courtney Smallwood, Singh lived with his roommates in Orange, California, and had no criminal background. He holds a master's degree in hospitality and is currently unemployed. What brought him to Chicago remains unclear.

"The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period of time that this occurred," Susana Ortiz, a judge for the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, said. "Being in a secured part of the airport under a fake ID badge allegedly, based upon the need for airport 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."

However, the Chicago Department of Aviation claimed that the incident had not posed any security risk. "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," it said in a statement as per People.