NASSAU- Seven people caught with bogus COVID-19 test results were collectively fined $13,200.
After imposing the steep fines on Thursday, Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt called on police to track down the creators and sellers of the counterfeit tests. She said the fake test ring had “compromised the entire Bahamas.”
The convicts were due to travel to Abaco, Andros, Exuma and Eleuthera last month.
They presented bogus Doctors’ Hospital Health Systems COVID-19 results in order to travel from Lynden Pindling International Airport.
They were arrested after officials determined that their negative results were forged.
Edroy Rolle, 30, was headed to Exuma on March 25 to deejay an event for his cousin.
Marilyn Crosdale, 33, and Alicia Stuart, missed their March 31 flight to Abaco to attend the funeral of a cousin who “died suddenly.”
Theran Evans, of St Andrews Beach Estates, was headed to Eleuthera on March 31.
Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt fined each of them $2,400 or eight weeks in prison.
Samuel Colebrooke, Janae Jolly and a 17-year-old girl were headed to Andros on March 26. The magistrate fined them each $1,200 or eight weeks in prison.
Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt condemned the use of the fake tests and said the scam had smeared the reputation of Doctors’ Hospital, which she described as a “premier health institution.”
