On Sunday, prosecutors detailed how Aditya Singh lived for three months in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz presided over the session in which the story of 36-year-old Aditya Singh’s temporary residence in O’Hare International Airport unfolded. “So if I understand you correctly,” Ortiz asked, “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.”
Just the day before, two United Airlines employees approached Singh. When they asked to see his identification, Singh showed them the airport ID badge around his neck. The badge apparently belonged to an operations manager who had reported it missing months before, in October. Singh had presumably been using it as part of his cover for much of that time.
Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Hagerty said Singh had been staying in the airport because he was “scared to go home” to his Orange, California residence, south of Los Angeles, “due to COVID [Chinese coronavirus],” and that other passengers had been giving him food.
“The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period of time that this occurred,” the judge said. “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.”
Singh’s bail has been set at $1,000, and he has been barred from entering the airport. His next court date is scheduled for January 27.