FBI Arrested Man For Claiming He Paid Someone To Spread Coronavirus in Local Grocery Stores

The man allegedly posted a threat on social media, claiming to have paid somebody to spread coronavirus at nearby supermarkets. His post, which was deleted, lead to his arrest.

In San Antonio, Christopher Charles Perez, 39, was captured Tuesday afternoon at a home on Chateau Drive, where he lived, after authorities with the FBI said he dishonestly claimed to have paid somebody to spread the coronavirus at local grocery stores in San Antonio.

U.S. Attorney John F. Bash posted on a social media "We just charged a man for allegedly perpetrating a COVID-19 hoax. He falsely claimed on Facebook that he had paid someone to spread the virus at San Antonio area grocery stores. No one actually spread the virus. He was arrested yesterday."

According to an authority with the Department of Justice, Perez, a San Antonio resident, a government criminal complaint unsealed today accuses Perez of one count of violating 18 U.S.C. 1038, which condemns false information and scams related to weapons of mass destruction.

Court archives state that Perez allegedly posted a threat on social media in which he professed to have paid somebody to spread coronavirus at local grocery stores in the San Antonio area since he was attempting to discourage individuals from visiting the stores, purportedly to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Southwest Texas Fusion Center (SWTFC) got an online tip with a screenshot of the said posted threat on Sunday. The SWTFC reached the FBI office in San Antonio for further examination. All things considered, the alleged threat was not true; nobody spread the coronavirus at the local grocery stores, as per the investigators.

Perez, whom FBI agents captured late yesterday afternoon without incident, faces as long as five years in government jail upon conviction. He stays in government custody right now.

The FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Squad and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are exploring this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg is indicting the case on behalf of the administration.

The San Antonio local grocery stores were not mentioned in the criminal filings.

A representative for the Department of Justice stated: "To be clear, the alleged threat was false; no one spread coronavirus at grocery stores, according to investigators."

Updates of the capture come after government organizations focused on a no-nonsense approach would be taken in regard to threats connected to the novel coronavirus which is currently tied to more than 432,000 U.S. infections.

U.S. Appointee Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said in a notice to law implementation chiefs in March that misusing the health crisis is unforgivable and will not be tolerated without serious consequences. The notice, first acquired by Politico, said that crimes could potentially violate terrorism-related statutes.

The novel coronavirus, which is believed to have killed more than 88,500 individuals worldwide, appeared to meet the statutory meaning of a biological agent, Rosen wrote.

As of this writing, 177 individuals had died from the coronavirus in Texas, where there are 9,353 affirmed cases.