Chloe Mrozak Of Oak Lawn Charged For Having Counterfeit COVID Vaccine Card In Hawaii
OAK LAWN, Ill. (CBS) -- If you're going to present a fake COVID vaccination card, you might want to make sure it's spelled right.
A woman from the southwest suburbs is in a Honolulu jail after being caught with a counterfeit vaccine card. Chloe Mrozak of Oak Lawn arrived Monday, Aug. 23 after uploading the fake vaccine card to avoid Hawaii's mandatory 10-day quarantine, authorities said.
State investigators arrested Mrozak, 24, when she went to the airport Saturday for her flight home. Investigators were able to identify Mrozak based on a distinctive tattoo on her hip, which authorities found on her Facebook profile.
She had ignored attempts by authorities to contact her about her suspect COVID card during her six-day stay. A screener at the airport had raised concerns about the authenticity of Mrozak's vaccine record, but she was allowed to leave the airport. An administrator later contacted Special Agent Wilson Lau with the state attorney general's office with suspicion that Mrozak's card was fraudulent.
In an affidavit, Lau said he attempted to contact Mrozak by phone and email she provided on the form that travelers fill out when entering the state. He also found that Mrozak did not have a reservation at the hotel she put on the travel form.
The one big mistake: Moderna is spelled wrong on the card, as "Maderna." It also said she got the shot in Delaware, but Lau said the state had no record of her vaccination.
In an interview with CBS 2's Marissa Parra, Lau said: "That's one contributing factor, the others were how evasive the information was on our Safe Travel Hawaii program [form], such as her failure to indicate her hotel reservation as well as her departure flight information. That led to further inquiries that launched the investigation."
Lau said she also gave false information about her return flight, stating she was returning on American Airlines when, in fact, she had purchased a round-trip ticket on Southwest. She was arrested at the Southwest gate, with a boarding pass.
Mrozak is being held on $2,000 bail. At last check, she remained in custody "pending trial for prohibited acts emergency management."
A woman answered the door to the address listed as Mrozak's home, but declined to comment.
In Hawaii, using falsified proof of testing or vaccination documents for travel into the state is a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year for each count.
'We take falsified vaccinations and falsified PCR tests very seriously," Lau said.
"Being caught with false documents outweigh the costs of just a simple PCR test and it's not worth it," he said.
If you receive a vaccination from somewhere in U.S. territories, you can enjoy Hawaii without getting a test or quarantining – but travel must be 15 days after your final shot.
Otherwise, you must have provide a negative COVID-19 PCR test, which must come from a provider on a list of "trusted partners with Safe Travel Program" and must be taken within 72 hours before your flight to Hawaii.
If you do not have a vaccination card or you do not provide a negative PCR COVID test, you must self-quarantine for 10 days.
We are told this was the seventh arrest Hawaiian authorities have made against U.S. travelers faking vaccine documents.
In the last two months, they have arrested two travelers from California, two from Florida, two from Georgia, and Mrozak from Illinois.