Man Arrested for Secretly Living in O'Hare Airport for 3 Months, Feared COVID

Move over Tom Hanks, there's a new Viktor Navorski here to awkwardly (and illegally) live inside an American airport for months on end ... so say authorities out of Chicago, anyway.

A California man named Aditya Singh was arrested this weekend when prosecutors say United employees discovered he'd secretly made O'Hare Airport his home for 3 whopping months ... by using a legit staffer's credentials.

Singh claims he was afraid to fly for fear of catching COVID-19. He’s been charged with felony criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport and misdemeanor theft.

Prosecutors say Singh had arrived at O'Hare from Orange County in October 2020 ... and, at some point, swiped someone's discarded credentials and shacked up in the restricted secure zones, where only employees are allowed.

Other passengers who shuffled in and out over the next few months apparently gave the guy money and food to survive.

Singh's reportedly a college graduate with a master's degree in hospitality. It's unclear why he'd flown to Chi-Town in the first place, but the judge presiding over his case finds it as bizarre as you do right now.

His bail was set at $1,000, and IF he posts it, he's also barred him from stepping foot in the airport for the time being. So, even if he can get himself out between now and his next court date in late January ... it doesn’t sound like he can hop on a flight home.