Texas man sentenced to 15 months in prison for posting Covid-19 hoax on social media - CNN
By: Aya Elamroussi (CNN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(CNN)A Texas man was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for spreading a hoax related to Covid-19 on social media, prosecutors said.
Evidence showed Christopher Charles Perez, 40, posted two threatening messages on Facebook in April 2020, falsely claiming he paid someone infected with Covid-19 to "lick items at grocery stores in the San Antonio area to scare people away" from the businesses, the US Attorney's Office in the Western District of Texas said in a news release Monday. How to encourage family and friends to stop spreading misinformation on social media Perez was found guilty of two counts for violating a federal law that criminalizes false information and hoaxes related to biological weapons, prosecutors said. The Southwest Texas Fusion Center (SWTFC) received an online tip on April 5, 2020, of a screenshot of the post, and the FBI in San Antonio investigated the matter, according to the news release. "The threat was false. Perez did not pay someone to intentionally spread coronavirus at grocery stores, according to investigators and Perez's own admissions," prosecutors said in the news release. Read More Perez's attorney did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Perez's fabricated social media posts came at a time when Covid-19 had just begun widely spreading in the US -- shutting down many non-essential businesses and upending life across the country and around the globe. In addition to the 15-month prison sentence, Perez must also pay a $1,000 fine, prosecutors said. "Trying to scare people with the threat of spreading dangerous diseases is no joking matter," US Attorney Ashley C. Hoff said in the news release. The US Department of Justice created the Covid-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force last May to combat pandemic-related fraud.
CNN's Raja Razek contributed to this report.
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15 months is not long enough
meh, it'll all even out after he loses most of his teeth on the rim of the stainless steel toilet and gets baptized prison style in the bowl a few times. bwah ha ha ha, sucks being a trumpster in the joint.
Hmmm where did it say he was a Trump supporter?
it didn't have to, based upon available statistics. please feel free to go verify it for both of us.
So, you’re saying that most people in prison are Democrats? Or just the rapey ones?
now that's funny. However, I doubt people in prison have ever voted much less actually registeread
convicts/conservatives do seem to be the very patriotic and religious bunch, so no. let's just say they're republicans that ended up serving time before they were elected to office.
Agreed. What he did is totally malicious and weakens the trust of those who are not that able to think for themselves.
Seems I heard about this on the radio a few hours ago and his intention was to help in the idea of a mandatory lockdown of businesses, especially stores.
Has FB permanently banned him also?
I think that his posting days may be over.
nah, the prison definition of posting is way different...
I'm sure that it is and I suspect that he'll find that out.
Sent to prison for being a toxic asshole. Good.
~bump~
Crap on a cracker, I have got to move out of this freaking state.
don't fuck up my holiday travel plans...
Never! It's the only time of the year I get lucky. Repeatedly..
the in-room trapeze was a nice touch last year.
I'm sure he will find out what real prison life is like during his 15 months. It will be a time in his life that he will never recover from, mentally or physically. And he may never be able to take a normal poop again for the rest of his life.
W H A T A N A S S H O L E
I need a few of those. Christmas is coming and I need stocking stuffers for a couple of people who mean the least to me.
In TEXAS??? I'm surprised Abbot didn't give him a medal.