(CNN) A Texas man was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for spreading a hoax related to Covid-19 on social media, prosecutors said.
Evidence showed Christopher Charles Perez, 40, posted two threatening messages on Facebook in April 2020, falsely claiming he paid someone infected with Covid-19 to "lick items at grocery stores in the San Antonio area to scare people away" from the businesses, the US Attorney's Office in the Western District of Texas said in a news release Monday.
Perez was found guilty of two counts for violating a federal law that criminalizes false information and hoaxes related to biological weapons, prosecutors said.
The Southwest Texas Fusion Center (SWTFC) received an online tip on April 5, 2020, of a screenshot of the post, and the FBI in San Antonio investigated the matter, according to the news release.
"The threat was false. Perez did not pay someone to intentionally spread coronavirus at grocery stores, according to investigators and Perez's own admissions," prosecutors said in the news release.
CecilHarvey9395 on October 6th, 2021 at 13:49 UTC »
This title is bad.
In general, the first amendment would protect your right to spread hoaxes like "the Covid vaccine has a microchip" "Bill Gates can mind control you if you get the Covid Vaccine" "If you get the Covid vaccine Satan will appear in your bedroom at night and have sex with you" etc etc.
The problem is he posted a threat. A biological threat. He claimed he paid people to intentionally contaminate food. So it wasn't just a "hoax", it was a threat to commit a crime. No different than if I told someone "If I catch you here in this park ever again I'm going to take a baseball bat and split your skull open."
Title is misleading.
LevelHeeded on October 6th, 2021 at 11:54 UTC »
That's just fucking weird, even if he had threatened this before Covid it would have been fucking weird.
Reminded me of Blue Bell ice cream lickers, which I did a quick Google search and top hits were this chick, and this dude, both from Texas. WTF is going on in that state?
TooMad on October 6th, 2021 at 11:21 UTC »
Not misinformation-hoax but threat-hoax.