Prosecutors said Aditya Singh, 36, was too afraid to fly back to Los Angeles due to COVID-19.
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Cook County prosecutors said Singh was found with an airport worker's misplaced credentials and survived inside a secure area of the airport.
Singh arrived at O'Hare's Terminal 2 on a flight from Los Angeles back on October 19, according to prosecutors.
He was allegedly living inside the airport's security zone since then.
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On Saturday, two United Airlines employees confronted Singh and asked to see his work ID which had been reported as stolen by an airport operations manager.
Singh was taken into custody and told authorities he found the credentials and was afraid to fly home in the pandemic.
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He has been charged with felony criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport and theft.
The judge expressed shock that Singh wasn't detected earlier.
"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," the Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement Monday morning. "We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners on a thorough investigation of this matter."
Singh's defense attorney made a request to allow Singh to fly home.
The judge denied that and set bail at $10,000.
The video in the media player above was used in a previous report.