A man is facing charges after he allegedly lied about testing positive for the Chinese coronavirus in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on March 13.
Thursday, police arrested former Sitel Group employee Jeffrey Travis Long after he reportedly gave a forged letter to his superiors, claiming he had the virus, according to Fox Carolina.
Immediately after Long presented the letter to his employers, the customer service company relayed the information to authorities, evacuated the site for a thorough deep cleaning, and instructed all of its workers to self-quarantine for 14 days.
However, once the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office discovered Long’s claims were fraudulent, the office alerted Sitel and issued an arrested warrant on Thursday.
“The individual is no longer employed at Sitel,” an update on the company’s website read, adding that it was working closely with law enforcement officials during the ongoing investigation.
“At this time, our focus is on the safety and wellbeing of our employees who returned to work at our Spartanburg site on Wednesday, March 18th, 2020,” the update noted.
Thursday during a press conference, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright condemned the suspect’s actions and said it likely cost the company a lot of money to disinfect its entire building and have all of its employees tested for the virus.
Wright continued:
This gentleman had a doctor’s excuse that wasn’t written on letterhead or anything like that. Basically, you can make it up from your house. Seems to me like the fella just wanted a two-week paid vacation, but we’re going to give him a little time over in the Hotel California. You know, you can’t do this to people. It’s already bad enough that people are excited and have anxiety about this thing that they probably won’t even get. To have somebody to do this is just absolutely crazy.
The Inman Police Department charged Long with breach of peace and forgery. He was later granted a $10,000 bond and fined $200.
