Texas Man Is Sentenced to 15 Months for Online Covid-19 Hoax

On April 5, 2020, Christopher Charles Perez posted a connection connected Facebook astir an H-E-B market store successful San Antonio, national prosecutors said.

“My homeboys relative has covid19 and has licked everything for past 2 days origin we paid him too,” Mr. Perez wrote. “YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.”

The assertion was not true, and the station came down aft 16 minutes, according to tribunal documents.

But idiosyncratic anonymously submitted a screenshot of the station to the Southwest Texas Fusion Center, a radical of instrumentality enforcement agencies that investigates imaginable transgression and violent activity. When the F.B.I. confronted Mr. Perez, helium said helium had been trying to scare radical from going to nationalist places “to halt them from spreading the virus,” according to a national affidavit.

This past June, Mr. Perez, 40, of San Antonio, was recovered blameworthy of disseminating mendacious accusation and hoaxes related to biologic weapons. On Monday, a national justice sentenced him to 15 months successful national prison.

In a statement, national prosecutors said that Mr. Perez had been trying to frighten radical with threats of “spreading unsafe diseases.” His apprehension successful April 2020 came aboriginal successful the pandemic, erstwhile determination was inactive uncertainty implicit however the coronavirus spread, and arsenic many radical were wiping down their groceries and emptying stores of disinfectant.

“Perez’s actions were knowingly designed to dispersed fearfulness and panic,” Christopher Combs, the peculiar cause successful complaint of the F.B.I.’s San Antonio tract office, said successful the statement. The sentence, helium said, “illustrates the seriousness of this crime.”

Mr. Perez’s lawyer, Alfredo R. Villarreal, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

On Wednesday, Mr. Villarreal filed a announcement with the tribunal stating that helium would beryllium appealing Mr. Perez’s condemnation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The condemnation fell astatine the little extremity of national sentencing guidelines that recommended a condemnation of 15 to 21 months based connected the discourtesy and Mr. Perez’s transgression history, according to a national tribunal official. The authoritative declined to item Mr. Perez’s transgression record.

Nancy Gertner, a retired national justice successful Boston, said that since national sentencing guidelines went into effect successful 1987, judges person sentenced defendants to situation clip connected charges that erstwhile led to probation.

“I’m definite the justice was intending to nonstop a connection to radical who would beryllium progressive successful similar hoaxes, which is important,” said Ms. Gertner, present a lecturer astatine Harvard Law School. “The question is whether helium needed to enforce a condemnation of this magnitude to nonstop that message.”

Prosecutors said that Mr. Perez sent 2 threatening messages. After informing radical astir the infected groceries, they said, helium posted different connection connected Facebook that included a nexus to a quality communicative astir a store that had been forced to unopen down aft an worker tested affirmative for the virus.

“Lol, I did effort to pass y’all,” the station said.

“Nogalitos determination next,” it said, seemingly referring to different San Antonio H-E-B supermarket, connected Nogalitos Street. That station remained connected Facebook for astir 23 hours, according to a national affidavit.

H-E-B representatives did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Mr. Perez’s sentence, which included 3 years of supervised release, requires him to question intelligence wellness attraction and instrumentality intelligence wellness medication.

As the proceedings approached, Mr. Villarreal sought a delay, citing Mr. Perez’s questionable intelligence state. He said successful a question that Mr. Perez “was unduly distraught” during a proceeding connected June 8.

“Mr. Perez broke down successful tears respective times during this afternoon’s hearing, sobbed, trembled, expressed to counsel that helium did not recognize the proceedings, repeatedly said, ‘I americium not a terrorist!’” Mr. Villarreal wrote.

Just earlier the assemblage began its deliberations successful June, Mr. Villarreal filed a question asking Judge David A. Ezra to acquit Mr. Perez, arguing prosecutors had not proven that “Mr. Perez intended to origin harm oregon had immoderate different malicious intent erstwhile helium posted connected Facebook.”

An H-E-B enforcement successful complaint of information testified during the proceedings that helium had not been alert of the menace until the F.B.I. told him astir it, and that nary of the stores were forced to adjacent arsenic a effect of the Facebook posts, Mr. Villarreal said successful his motion.

Mr. Perez “either meant it purely arsenic a gag or, astatine worst, intended that radical instrumentality the pandemic much earnestly astatine a clip erstwhile nationalist gathering and disguise hesitancy were continuing to frustrate nationalist wellness officials,” Mr. Villarreal said successful a question connected June 17.

Judge Ezra denied the question and the assemblage came backmost with a blameworthy verdict 4 days later.