Atlanta – A Georgia man faces charges after authorities accused him of lying to his employer that he had tested positive for COVID-19, prosecutors said Thursday.
Santwon Antonio Davis, 34, was charged with workplace fraud, the federal prosecution in Atlanta reported in a statement. Because Davis said he had tested positive for coronavirus, the employer had to close his plant to disinfect it and give several other workers paid leave of absence while in quarantine, causing the company to lose more than $ 100,000. prosecutors noted.
Davis had her initial court appearance on Thursday and was posted bail, according to online court records. A phone number in Davis’ name was not found and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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According to the prosecution, Davis later acknowledged that he did not have COVID-19.
Davis worked at an Atlanta-area plant belonging to an unidentified Fortune 500 group company, the prosecution reported. On March 12 and 13, the company conducted mandatory training on how employees could access information on its website about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Employees were told that if they tested positive, they would receive their wages while they were in quarantine.
A week later Davis received a call at work and informed his supervisors that his mother, with whom he lived, had been exposed to a person diagnosed with COVID-19 and had been asked to be quarantined, according to a statement. sworn an FBI agent filed with the court. His supervisor said Davis was able to continue working because he had “low risk” of exposure, but that he left work early saying he was concerned about his mom.
The next day, on March 20, Davis texted his supervisor saying his mother had symptoms and that they were awaiting the diagnostic test, according to the agent’s statement. Again, the supervisor told him that he could work because of “low risk of exposure,” but Davis did not show up at the plant.
Davis sent a new message to his supervisor on Saturday to say that his mother had tested positive for COVID-19 and that he had a fever, and again on Sunday to say that he had been diagnosed, the agent’s statement said. On Sunday afternoon, the supervisor asked Davis to send him a copy of the results of his analysis and explained that if Davis had COVID-19 the company would have to close for disinfection and other employees would have to be quarantined.
Based on what Davis had said, the company closed its plant on March 23 for cleaning and paid wages to at least four employees who were quarantined because they had been in close contact with Davis, the agent’s statement says.
The company’s director of human resources reviewed Davis’ medical record and noted signs of fraud, according to the FBI agent’s statement. For example, the document stated that he had been discharged in November 2019, did not have a signature or appeared to have a letterhead. The company also called the hospital where Davis said the test had been performed and found that the site was not doing diagnostic tests for COVID-19.
