Warehouse Manager Wanted In Theft Of $1 Million Worth Of COVID-19 Tests
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) — Police need the public's help to track down a warehouse manager suspected of stealing more than $1 million worth of COVID-19 tests from his employer.
Carlitos Peralta, 33, was the manager of one of the seven warehouses owned nationwide by Covid Clinic, 3401 W. MacArthur Blvd. The warehouses are where COVID tests are stored before they are shipped to clinics, pop-up testing sites, schools, and hotels.
"It's our understanding that it's at least a million dollars worth of COVID tests," said Santa Ana Police Department Sergeant Maria Lopez.
Police say Peralta had access to the company's shipping and delivery system since he was the warehouse manager where the tests were primarily stored. As a result, he had nearly 100 shipments of COVID tests sent to his home from multiple warehouses. The total amount of loss is estimated to be $1,000,575, according to Santa Ana police.
They indicated that Peralta was taking advantage of the peak of the Omicron surge, at a point where COVID-19 testing kits could hardly last on store shelves for more than an hour after getting stocked.
"Beginning Dec. 30th up until Feb. 7th, he was essentially going into their databases at work and routing some of the COVID tests to his home," Lopez said.
Now, authorities are not only looking for Peralta, but are also looking for any information on where the tests may have gone.
The well-known testing clinic delivers tests to pop-up testings sites, clinics and schools.
"If we backtrack, Dec. 30th through Feb. 7th, that was kind of during the time where people were looking for tests," Lopez continued. "So it seems like it was at a time where it was in high demand."
Anyone with information about Peralta or his whereabouts can call Santa Ana police Detective Rashad Wilson at (714) 254-8551 or via email at rashadwilson@santa-ana.org.
