Hawaii: Woman Faces $5,000 Fine, One Year in Jail for Fake Vaccination Card

An Illinois woman faces up to one year in jail as well as a $5,000 fine for flashing a counterfeit vaccination card while visiting Hawaii.

On Sunday, 24-year-old Chloe Mrozak was arrested at Oahu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport after she presented a forged vaccination card to security. Authorities were immediately tipped off to the card’s illicitness upon seeing Mrozak had listed “Maderna” – a misspelling of Moderna – as her vaccine of choice. She is now being held on $2,000 bail. From Market Watch:

Mrozak arrived in Oahu a week ago Monday on a Southwest LUV, -0.46% flight, according to court documents, and left the airport before screeners could confirm her hotel reservations. She listed a Waikiki Holiday Inn Express as her local accommodations, but when investigators checked with the hotel, they found no reservations under her name.

What’s more, her handwritten COVID vaccine card also claimed she was vaccinated in Delaware by members of the National Guard, but when the authorities checked with the state, there was no record of her vaccination.

The state investigators found Mrozak at the airport as she was preparing to leave Hawaii at the end of her trip. She told the arresting officer that she got her vaccination from her doctor at her doctor’s office, documents say, and that she paid for the shot. (In fact, the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed for free by states and local communities.) She was traveling with another woman, who was not arrested.

Mrozak is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, accused of falsifying vaccination documents, which is a misdemeanor. If convicted, she faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

Hawaii currently requires that all unvaccinated visitors be quarantined for 10 days upon their arrival. Throughout the state, vaccine passports or a negative coronavirus test are required for anyone visiting a restaurant, bar, museum, movie theater, or any indoor establishment.

In early August, a couple from Florida were fined up to $8,000 for presenting two fake vaccination cards for their children, who were both too young to be vaccinated. At the time, Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced that “the AG’s office will investigate and prosecute those who cheat” the vaccine passport system.