Federal authorities say a Marine Corps reservist charged in last year’s U.S. Capitol riot also schemed with a nurse to steal, forge and sell hundreds of coronavirus vaccination cards
NEW YORK — 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, was released on $250,000 bond to home detention with an ankle monitor after a court appearance Thursday. Nurse Steven Rodriguez, 27, was released on $100,000 bond.
“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.
Liu’s lawyer, Benjamin Yaster, declined to comment. A message was left for Rodriguez’ attorney.
The defendants are charged with conspiring to commit forgery and to defraud the federal government. The charges 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…
