Christopher Charles Perez, 39, has been sentenced to 15 months for claiming on Facebook that he paid someone to spread COVID at local grocery stores in San Antonio.
Perez made the posts during the height of the shutdown in April 2020.
He reportedly wrote on Facebook:
“My homeboys cousin has covid19 and has licked every thing for past 2 days cause we paid him too [sic]. Big difference is we told him not to be these f—— idiots who record and post online. . .YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!!”
It was determined that Perez was lying.
A jury ultimately found him guilty of two counts of giving false information and hoaxes related to biological weapons.
The DOJ said in a press release:
"Evidence presented during trial revealed that Perez posted two threatening messages on Facebook in which he claimed to have paid someone who was infected with COVID-19 to lick items at grocery stores in the San Antonio area to scare people away from visiting the stores. On April 5, 2020, a screenshot of the initial posting was sent by an online tip to the Southwest Texas Fusion Center (SWTFC), which then contacted the FBI office in San Antonio for further investigation. The threat was false. Perez did not pay someone to intentionally spread coronavirus at grocery stores, according to investigators and Perez’s own admissions…
“Trying to scare people with the threat of spreading dangerous diseases is no joking matter,” said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff. “This office takes seriously threats to harm the community and will prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”
“Those who would threaten to use COVID-19 as a weapon against others will be held accountable for their actions, even if the threat was a hoax,” said FBI San Antonio Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs. “Perez’s actions were knowingly designed to spread fear and panic and today’s sentencing illustrates the seriousness of this crime. The FBI would like to thank our law enforcement partners for their help in this case.””
In addition to the sentence, Perez was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.