Now that we ’re seeingmore and morebusinesses take for frequenter ’s vaccine condition when they walk through the door , forged vaccine card are quickly becoming ahot commodityamong folks that are eitherunable or unwillingto get the real deal . And now , the Justice Department is use up notice . On Tuesday , the agencyannouncedthe pinch of one Chicago pharmacist on charges surrounding his say side hustle sell off COVID-19 inoculation lineup .
Per the DOJ ’s announcement , the pharmacist in question — 34 - yr - old Tangtang Zhao , of Chicago — was caught after he had sell 125 authentic CDC inoculation cards at roughly $ 10 a pop using his eBay account . item inZhao ’s indictmentshow that those card were doled out between 11 different buyers , with one spend more than $ 175 in a exclusive leverage . The bulk of these buys happened between March and April of this class , around the same time that the FBI put out apublic memoletting people know that producing these cards was a offense .
The indictment charges Zhao with 12 counts of theft of government activity property from the chemist’s where he was work , which is n’t instantly name in the documents but seems to be Walgreens , according topublic disk . Per the announcement , he faces a sentence of 10 yr in prison for each of those counts if convicted , meaning that he could wind up serving a walloping 120 - year prison house sentence as a result .
Photo: Nathan Howard (Getty Images)
“ Stealing and sell COVID-19 vaccination cards is inexcusable and will not be digest , ” say Special Agent in Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in a statement
“ Fraudsters who engage in such unlawful behavior undermine crusade to address the pandemic and earnings at the public ’s disbursement , ” he go on . “ The health and guard of the public is our top priority , and we encourage people to obtain vaccination cards from their administering aesculapian providers . ”
This case marks the second fourth dimension that the DOJ has intervene in the black market place for bastard vaccine cards . Last month , the departmentarresteda California - base homeopathic doc over claims that she was sell phony vaccination cards and “ immunization shot ” to her clientele .
Between all thefree perksbeing doled out across the country to advance people to get the thrusting , and the quickly mounting court cases facing those who have attempt put off the system , hopefully , more people will be convinced to get their cards for innocent , the way say-so mean . Zhao will make his first show in court of law on Tuesday .
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