Former NBA player Lazar Hayward arrested in Hawaii for fake COVID-19 test results

Authored by nba.nbcsports.com and submitted by ladyem8

Former NBA first-round pick Lazar Hayward was one of two Californians arrested for submitting fake COVID-19 test results to the state of Hawaii in an attempt to avoid a quarantine for travelers entering the state, according to multiple reports.

Hayward, 34, and Raven Randle, 33, flew from Los Angeles to Kauai, and they “uploaded falsified negative test results into the Hawaii Safe Travels portal,” according to the Associated Press. Travelers to the state have to submit either COVID vaccination proof or a recent negative test, and Hayward and Randle used fake ones flagged by screeners.

Authorities in Hawaii arrested Lazar Hayward Jr and Raven Randle for uploading falsified Covid-19 negative test results to state database. They then flew from Los Angeles to Hawaii where they were booked and immediately put on a plane back to LA. https://t.co/aNll32LjsM — Gigi Graciette (@GigiGraciette) October 2, 2021

The two were met by Kauai police and state officials when the plane landed and were arrested. When released, they immediately boarded a plane back to Los Angeles. Neither has commented publicly on the incident.

Hayward and Randle are not the first two, just two of the latest to be arrested for the same thing. Hawaii continues to have strict rules for travel as it tries to manage the pandemic and the Delta variant outbreak that has hit the nation hard. Travel has been restricted to the point that the Maui Invitational — the major college basketball tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving on the island of Maui — has been moved to Las Vegas for this season.

Hayward was the No. 30 pick of the Wizards in the 2010 NBA Draft, out of Marquette. He played three seasons and 72 games between Minnesota and Oklahoma City (he was a member of the 2012 Thunder team that made the NBA Finals), bouncing between the G-League and NBA. He never played in the NBA again, although his rights were picked up at points by Houston and New Orleans, who waived him, and he played for several G-League teams.

sloanbone on October 4th, 2021 at 15:29 UTC »

Just because it’s been mentioned several times here (and I went through it myself in August)

As of July 9th, 2021 you can upload proof of vaccination to the Safe Travels portal and are exempt from providing a negative COVID test

If you are not vaccinated you need to get a test within 72 hours of takeoff, and upload those results into the same portal

You are provided a QR code you present at the airport in Kauai

Source: 6 of us flew (my wife and I and our 4 kids) - 2 of my kids are under 12 and had to have negative tests (which we procured from Walgreens for free), and 4 of us uploaded our Vaccination cards. We were in Kauai from the 1st-10th of August.

kg812 on October 4th, 2021 at 13:01 UTC »

Never heard of this guy

AdjNounNumbers on October 4th, 2021 at 12:13 UTC »

I'm trying to wrap my head around faking test results... The only reason I can see to fake a test would be thinking there's a good chance you won't pass it. So there's a higher probability that they got on the plane with an active infection. Otherwise, why not take 15 minutes to go get a real test? It would be simpler than putting in the effort to fake test results