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Man charged in Detroit airport breach ordered held

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By DAVID RUNK, The Associated Press Updated 6:46 PM Tuesday, February 9, 2010

DETROIT — An Ohio man who authorities say walked through a passenger screening checkpoint at Detroit Metropolitan Airport without a boarding pass, prompting an evacuation, stood silently in court Tuesday before being ordered detained.

Hours after appearing in court to face the charge of violating federal security requirements, a local prosecutor charged him with resisting and obstructing a police officer in Monday morning's security breach.

The man identified in a federal criminal complaint as Kaylan L. Policherla didn't respond to Magistrate Judge Mark Randon when asked his name and other questions during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit. He wore a long-sleeved shirt unbuttoned to his stomach and stood with his hands in his pockets.

Randon granted federal defender Dave Tholen's request for a mental health evaluation. Tholen, who was appointed to represent Policherla, said his client also was unresponsive when he earlier tried to discuss the case.

Policherla, 27, of Bryan, Ohio is charged with entering an airport area in violation of federal security requirements, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison. A hearing on whether he will remain in custody was set for Thursday.

Tholen declined to comment after the hearing and a message was left seeking comment about the new charge.

Policherla was scheduled to appear Wednesday in 34th District Court in Romulus, the city where the airport is located, on the charge of resisting an officer. That charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison.

"Violations of airport security will not be tolerated," Wayne County Airport Authority Police Chief Edward Glomb said in a statement.

The Wayne County prosecutor's office lists Policherla's first name as Kalyan, but federal authorities list his first name as Kaylan.

Messages were left Tuesday at Ohio phone numbers under Policherla's last name.

The criminal complaint said Policherla illegally parked a 2001 Volkswagen Passat with Ohio license plates outside the McNamara Terminal before entering and walking through the checkpoint. Policherla didn't heed Transportation Security Administration workers and was subdued by airport police after a stun gun failed to stop him, the complaint said.

Part of the terminal was evacuated. Security screening resumed about an hour later. It wasn't clear why Policherla was at the airport, authorities said.

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February 09, 2010 11:45 PM EST

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