Santwon Antonio Davis charged w/ fraud after falsely telling his Atlanta area employer he had COVID-19, forcing company to incur $100K in expenses during quarantining and cleaning.
An Atlanta area man is facing federal charges after allegedly faking a coronavirus diagnosis to get out of work.
Santwon Antonio Davis, 34, was arrested by the FBI for allegedly submitting a fraudulent medical excuse record relating to the virus that forced his Fortune 500 employer to close for a cleaning and sent several colleagues into unnecessary quarantine.
The cleaning and disinfecting along with the entity continuing to pay worker salaries led to the company incurring expenses of $100,000.
‘The defendant caused unnecessary economic loss to his employer and distress to his coworkers and their families,’ U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak said in a release.
Atlanta worker pleads guilty to fake coronavirus costing employer $100K cleaning bill
‘We will take quick action through the Georgia COVID-19 Task Force to put a stop to criminals preying on Georgia companies and the public with Coronavirus-related fraud schemes.’
Davis, 34, of Marrow, Georgia, is charged with defrauding his Atlanta-based employer, which was left anonymous in the Thursday announcement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
The employee has since admitted to never contracting the virus, according to prosecutors.
‘Scammers continue to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic through a variety of means,’ said Chris Hacker, the special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta.
The ruse follows Davis failing to send human resource management a copy of his purported test results after it’d been explained to Davis if he had COVID-19 the company would have to shut for cleaning and other employees who’d worked closely with him would have to quarantine.
After Davis failing to respond to repeated entreaties, the company was forced to close down and quarantine workers before ultimately suspending Davis, WABE reports.
Of note, Davis is a convicted felon who has served three brief stints in prison since 2006, totaling nearly 18 months in custody, according to AJC. He’s been convicted of theft, criminal trespassing and criminal damage to property.
Davis was most recently released from prison on Feb. 27, 2019, GDC records show.
Davis has since been fired and is no longer employed by the fortune 500 company.
