CHICAGO — (CHICAGO) -- A Chicago-area pharmacist was convicted of stealing and selling COVID-19 vaccination cards, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
Tangtang Zhao, 36, of Chicago, stole CDC-issued COVID-19 vaccination cards from the pharmacy where he worked, and sold them to buyers across the country through an online marketplace, according to the DOJ.
A federal jury convicted Zhao on a dozen counts of theft of government property, according to the DOJ. At trial, the government showed eBay messages that were sent by Zhao to buyers of the fake vaccination card, court records show "The COVID-19 blank vaccination cards were not government property, where the government did not maintain supervision and control over the cards once they were delivered to providers like Walgreens," Pissetzky said."The government had absolutely no supervision over the cards and did not control how the cards were handled."
The Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General told ABC News in August 2021 that it began receiving"increasing reports of individuals creating, purchasing and using fake COVID-19 vaccination cards," cautioning the spread of bogus cards can leave victims' personal identity vulnerable.
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