Posting COVID Hoax on Facebook Assures Sentence of Over a Year in Prison for US Man

There’s no messing around when it comes to COVID. Christopher Charles Perez, a man from Texas, received a 15-month sentence in federal prison for posting a COVID-related hoax on social media, as CNN reveals. The two posts were made on Facebook over a year ago.

Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas reveals in a news release that the posts were claiming that a person who was infected with COVID was paid by the man to lick items from grocery stores located in San Antonio. The purpose was to scare people away.

However, the prosecutors declared in the news release the following, as quoted by CNN:

The threat was false. Perez did not pay someone to intentionally spread coronavirus at grocery stores, according to investigators and Perez’s own admissions.

Perez was found guilty, and except for the prison sentence of 15 months, he also has to pay a $1,000 fine.

US Attorney Ashley C. Hoff declared within the news release, as also cited by CNN:

Trying to scare people with the threat of spreading dangerous diseases is no joking matter.

According to worldometers.info, the total number of COVID infections worldwide has surpassed 236.8 million, while there are over 4.8 million reported deaths that occurred ever since the first outbreak of the virus.