A California bar owner has been arrested for selling fake COVID-19 vaccine cards from his Stockton saloon, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office.
The DA’s office said the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) received a complaint that fake vaccination cards were being sold at the bar. Undercover agents were able to buy the fake cards there on several occasions in April. It’s not clear how many cards were sold and much they cost.
Agents also executed a search warrant at the premises and recovered materials related to the distribution of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards, ABC said. Agents also found an unregistered firearm with the bar owner during the arrest.
The bar owner faces three felony charges, including forgery of a government seal, identity theft of Pfizer, CVS and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and carrying an unregistered firearm according to the District Attorney’s Office. He is also charged with creating a false medical record, a misdemeanor.
“It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic. Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you,” said District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar. “The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office is grateful for the partnership with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office for their work in this case.”
