An Illinois woman was busted on Saturday for allegedly using a fake Covid-19 vaccine card to enter Hawaii and bypass the state's mandatory 10-day quarantine.
Chloe Mrozak, 24, of Illinois was arrested at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu and charged on suspicion of falsified vaccination documents, a misdemeanor offense.
Mrozak Misspelled 'Moderna' as 'Maderna'
Hawaii uses a program called Safe Travels to verify incoming travelers' vaccination records and/or negative Covid-19 tests. On Aug. 23, Mrozak uploaded and presented the card to a screener at the Honolulu airport. The Safe Travels administrator flagged it as a possible fraudulent vaccination card.
The screener also failed to confirm Mrozak's hotel reservation prior to her leaving the processing center. According to court documents, no reservation was found after contacting the hotel that she listed in her Safe Travels forms, and Mrozak did not provide her hotel reservation number and return flight information.
When authorities reviewed her vaccination card, they noticed that Mrozak had misspelled "Moderna" as "Maderna" and listed Delaware as the place of vaccination. When the agent in charge of the investigation contacted Delaware officials to verify her vaccination status, they found no record listed under her name and date of birth.
Mrozak was Arrested when she Returned to the Airport
Investigators tracked her down and arrested her when she returned to the Daniel K. Inouye international Airport for her departure flight on Saturday. She told the officer that she got her vaccination from her doctor at her doctor's office, and paid for the shot, according to documents. She is being held on $2,000 bail. If convicted, she faces up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
This is not the first time a Hawaii-bound passenger has been arrested for using a fake vaccine card to gain entry into the state. Earlier in August, a Florida couple was arrested for using fraudulent vaccine cards to travel to Hawaii with their kids and another father and son from California were arrested for the same offense a week prior.
