A man was busted this week after authorities said they caught him stealing 200 surgical masks from his supply cart at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Nevada that was already struggling to get enough masks.
Surveillance cameras caught him pilfering four boxes of masks between March 19 and March 23, a VA police detective said in an affidavit filed backing up a misdemeanor charge of health care theft.
The prosecution is among the more aggressive ones launched by the Justice Department amid the coronavirus crisis, with the dollar amount of the masks totaling less than $100, and seemed designed to send a signal.
“We will not allow the theft of personal protective equipment to go undeterred, endangering the safety of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals protecting our communities,” said Nicholas A. Trutanish, U.S. attorney for Nevada.
Charged is Peter Lucas, 35.
VA Police Detective Larry Lee Kidd Jr. said they first spotted Mr. Lucas on security footage on March 19 after he came through a door that had been locked amid coronavirus safety procedures. The footage showed him taking boxes from his assigned supply cart, then going to the parking lot and returning without them.
The security camera caught him doing it again on March 23, the detective said.
Confronted, Mr. Lucas first denied it, then admitted he took four boxes but said he took them for a friend in the medical field. He later recanted and said he took them to pass out to the homeless, the affidavit says. He told the detective he didn’t charge for the masks.
The VA clinic said it is already running short of masks.
It ordered 94,000 to confront COVID-19, but as of April 1 had only received 31,200, and its supply was down to 7,700 a day later. The clinic estimated it uses more than 2,000 masks every three days.
Each box of masks contains 50.
The detective said he went online and found them available for an average of less than $10 per box, bringing the total theft to perhaps $40 — thus a misdemeanor, and punishable by up to a year in prison.
U.S. attorneys across the country have announced coronavirus task forces to go after hoarders, price gougers and others involved in scams related to COVID-19.
If Florida, federal prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against a man they said coughed on a St. Petersburg Police Department officer while declaring he was infected with the coronavirus, then the next day spit on an officer and again claimed to be infected.
He later tested negative for COVID-19. He has been charged with a biological weapons hoax.
In Texas, prosecutors say a man claimed on social media that he paid someone to spread the deadly coronavirus at a local grocery store.
He is charged with spreading false information involving a biological agent.
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this article.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.