Former OSU student arrested for 3-month stay at O’Hare

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A crazy story out of Chicago with an Oklahoma connection. A man was arrested over the weekend after living for nearly three months inside a terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. He claims he was too scared to fly because of COVID-19.

The 36-year-old was taken into custody at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport after reportedly living in a terminal for nearly three months.

Officials say Singh told them he was too scared to travel again after taking a plane from LA to Chicago in October, so he allegedly stole a security badge and lived in a terminal, surviving, he says, on hand out food from other passengers.

O’Hare airport security says two United Airlines employees cornered him Saturday and waited for police. Singh is not thought to be a security threat.

“Our security teams, our police teams would actually clear out the concourse and there is not really a place where the public can stay throughout the night,” said Josh Ryan of Will Rogers Airport.

Officials say this kind of thing would be virtually impossible to do in Oklahoma City because, unlike a huge airport like O’Hare, OKC doesn’t operate 24/7.

Also, employees routinely check each others credentials.

“If they are wearing a badge where they are not supposed to, if they are not displaying it correctly,  we challenge each other throughout the day and check each other’s badges,” said Ryan.

Singh was a grad student at OSU in 2017 and a grad assistant in 2018 in the School of Hospitality and involved in the Food Studies program.

We reached out to OSU school officials. They tell us that he is no longer a student and there is no more information they can add at this point.

Singh listed his current home in Orange County, California.

Singh is facing multiple charges including felony impersonation in a restricted area of the airport.