Ind. man arrested at O’Hare had gun in briefcase

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The owner of a northern Indiana chocolate factory arrested at a Chicago airport after a handgun was found in his luggage says he’d forgotten the weapon was in his briefcase.

Mark Tarner was arrested Tuesday night at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after a security checkpoint X-ray machine detected the unloaded gun as he and his family were heading to Mexico for a vacation.

The owner of the South Bend Chocolate Co. was arrested as his wife and four children stood by shocked. Tarner was released Thursday from the Cook County Jail after posting a $3,000 bond.

He tells the South Bend Tribune (http://bit.ly/wCWwbP ) he put the gun in a hidden compartment in his briefcase two weeks ago and forgot it was there. Tarner calls it “just an innocent mistake.”