Charges dropped in O'Hare sex toy scare

CHICAGO IL (UPI) -- A felony charge against an Iraqi man who told security screeners at Chicago's O'Hare Airport his penis pump was a bomb have been dropped.

Mardin Amin, 29, was arrested Aug. 29 after screeners said when asked what an unusual object was in his hand luggage, he twice whispered "bomb."

Amin tried to explain he was saying "pump," as in one for soccer balls, as he was too embarrassed to state its real purpose because his mother was standing nearby.

Wednesday, Cook County prosecutors agreed to drop the charge against Amin, who faced up to three years in prison if convicted.

Amin's lawyer, Eileen O'Neill, told the Chicago Sun-Times there was compelling reason to drop the charge.

"Right from the get-go, it made no sense that a guy who has worked as a translator for (the U.S.) Army in Iraq wouldn't know the consequences of saying, 'I have a bomb,'" she said.