Texas man sentenced to 15 months in prison for COVID-19 grocery-licking Facebook hoax
A federal judge in Texas sentenced Christopher Charles Perez to 15 months in prison for posting on Facebook that he had paid someone to spread COVID-19 in a San Antonio H-E-B supermarket, as part of a hoax in the jittery early days of the pandemic.
"My homeboys cousin has covid19 and has licked everything for past 2 days cause we paid him too," Perez wrote on April, 5, 2020, according to court documents. "Big difference is we told him not to be these [expletive] idiots who record and post online ... YOU'VE BEEN WARNED." That post stayed up only 16 minutes, but someone took a screenshot and sent it to a law enforcement network called the Southwest Texas Fusion Center. Perez then posted a link to a news article about a supermarket forced to close due to an infected employee. "Lol, I did try to warn y'all," his post said. "Nogalitos location next."
In June, a federal jury found Perez, 40, guilty of disseminating false information and hoaxes related to biological weapons. The federal judge sentenced him on Monday, and Perez's lawyer, Alfredo Villarreal, filed notice Wednesday that he will appeal the verdict to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal sentencing guidelines had recommended 15 to 21 months in prison based on the offense and Perez's unspecified criminal history, a federal court official told The New York Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Perez's actions were knowingly designed to spread fear and panic and today's sentencing illustrates the seriousness of this crime," FBI special agent Christopher Combs said in a statement. U.S. Attorney Ashely Hoff added that "trying to scare people with the threat of spreading dangerous diseases is no joking matter." Villarreal argued in a court motion in June that Perez "either meant it purely as a joke or, at worst, intended that people take the pandemic more seriously."
"I'm sure the judge was intending to send a message to people who would be involved in like hoaxes, which is important," Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School lecturer and former federal judge, told the Times. "The question is whether he needed to impose a sentence of this length to send that message." She said before federal sentencing guidelines were introduced in 1987, crimes like Perez's would likely have earned probation.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Navy jet, helicopter crash half-hour apart off carrierSpeed Read A US Navy helicopter and a fighter jet both crashed in the same half-hour during separate operations
-
Hurricane Melissa slams Jamaica as Category 5 stormSpeed Read The year’s most powerful storm is also expected to be the strongest ever recorded in Jamaica
-
Protesters fight to topple one of Africa’s longstanding authoritarian nationsIn the Spotlight Cameroon’s president has been in office 1982
-
Covid-19 mRNA vaccines could help fight cancerUnder the radar They boost the immune system
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the riseThe Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
