Marine reservist charged in Capitol riot now accused in fake vaccine card scam

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Military Times

A Marine Corps reservist who was charged in last year’s riot at the U.S. Capitol also schemed with a nurse to steal, forge and sell hundreds of fake coronavirus vaccination cards and destroy vaccine doses to fake inoculations, federal authorities said Thursday. Cpl. Jia Liu, 26, and nurse Steven Rodriguez, 27, were awaiting a court appearance Thursday on charges of conspiring to commit forgery and to defraud the federal government.

“By deliberately distributing fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards to the unvaccinated, the defendants put military and other communities at risk of contracting a virus that has already claimed nearly 1 million lives in this country,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. The charges in the vaccination card case carry the potential for up to 10 years in prison for Liu, of Queens, and Rodriguez, of suburban Long Beach.

According to an indictment, Rodriguez, who worked at a clinic on Long Island, pilfered blank COVID-19 vaccination cards. The two men allegedly offered customers the choice of buying cards blank or fraudulently filled out, with a premium-priced option: a fake vaccination record in the New York state and city databases that are used to issue vaccine passes. A buyer who sprung for the add-on would go to the clinic, where Rodriguez would dispose of a dose of vaccine, forge a card and make a phony entry into the databases, the indictment said.

The scheme ultimately involved over 300 ill-gotten vaccination cards and over 70 fake database entries, according to prosecutors. It said some of the fake cards went to Liu’s fellow Marine reservists, following a Pentagon order in August that all members of the military be vaccinated.

Read more: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2022/02/17/marine-reservist-charged-in-capitol-riot-now-accused-in-fake-vaccine-card-scam/

[BradAllison]

1. I'm sure he's learned his lesson!

[tosh]

7. OUCH!!!

[SouthernDem4ever]

8. no she only gives that pass to trump

[NBachers]

2. One count for each vaccination card; one count for each fake database entry. Revoke release from

jail on Capitol riot and put him back in so he can't do any more damage.

[PSPS]

3. I suppose the judge let him out of jail on the sedition-related charges so he could do this

[SergeStorms]

4. Everyone involved in the scheme....

should be dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corp. Total loss of a present and future benefits, and be made to pay restitution for any bonuses they may have accrued during the time they were breaking the law.

No quarter.

[Sgent]

5. Even on civillian charges he's screwed

computer fraud and abuse act is a major felony in terms of the prison sentence. Add to that military, destruction of federal property, probation, etc. he could be looking at decades in jail. For his sake, I hope he knows something useful (but I doubt it), or has some O-7+ level officers on that list.

[artemisia1]

10. I think even an O-5 would do it if they are a battalion commander. Since he, apparently, used his

military connections to aid in perpetrating fraud and disobeying of a lawful order (vaccination), I think the UCMJ -- if there is the WILL to do so -- will put paid to this little corporal's military career.

Usually, USMC E-4's are considered some of the most squared away JNCO's in the Armed Forces. It appears he is a gross exception.

[Initech]

6. Is there anything these people do that isn't awful?

[nitpicker]

9. Link to the DoJ PR

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/queens-marine-corps-reservist-and-long-island-nurse-indicted-covid-19-vaccination-card

[Aristus]

11. Is conspiring to undermine military readiness considered a crime?

They should definitely get slammed with that.

[sakabatou]

12. I am not surprised by this.