According to the Associated Press, the 24-year-old woman arrested earlier in month for allegedly trying and enter Hawaii using a fake coronavirus vaccination card has skipped a virtual court hearing.
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Chloe Mrozak was released on bail in the past after being arrested at Honolulus Daniel K. Inouye International Airport for misdemeanors of violating two pandemic regulations. Visitors to Hawaii must present either a vaccination card upon entry or a quarantine card for 10 days after arrival. A forged card allows one to skip the line to get to the beach without having to go through mandatory quarantine. According to authorities, Mrozak created a fake card that mispelled Moderna as Maderna to send to Hawaii's digital system for vet travelers. Mrozak could spend up to one year in prison if he is convicted of the original charges.
According to the AP Mrozak was to appear via Zoom at Wednesday's hearing. Judge Karin Holma issued her a $500 warrant of arrest after her non-appearance. It wasn't exactly the best way to escape the first one.
In April, the FBI warned that forging cards, which is official documentation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), could be a federal crime and could result in a maximum sentence of half a century in prison. While anti-vaxx and right-wing boards may have circulated templates of varying quality online starting in the new year, it seems that very few have done so or have been caught.
In Manhattan, prosecutors announced in August that they would charge Jasmine Clifford (31 years old), with fabricating and selling 250 fake CDC cards. Federal charges could land Tangtang Zhao, a Chicago pharmacist, with a sentence of up to 120 years for allegedly selling fake cards via eBay. Juli A. Mazi, a homeopathic doctor from California, faces federal fraud charges in relation to the alleged sale fake immunization pellets and fake cards.
Although Hawaii was able to weather most of the pandemic thanks to its isolation from the rest, and aggressive health authorities, the state experienced a spike in cases that began in July 2021. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine tracker estimates that the state has suffered an estimated 76.966 cases and 738 deaths as of Friday.
Governor David Ige asked all travelers to stop traveling to the state except for essential travel until November to highlight the danger that the pandemic could pose to the tourism-dependent state. Over 75% of the state's population has had at least one shot.
