HONOLULU – A Hawaii judge issued a bench warrant for an Illinois woman after she failed to appear for a virtual court hearing Wednesday following her arrest for an alleged fake COVID-19 vaccination card that misspelled Moderna as “Maderna.”
Judge Karin Holma said she would issue a $500 warrant for the 24-year-old woman’s arrest during a hearing on the case held via Zoom.
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Deputy Hawaii Attorney General Kory Young said he was requesting the warrant even though the scheduled proceeding was a status hearing.
She was released without bail earlier this month on two misdemeanor counts of violating Hawaii’s emergency rules to control the spread of COVID-19.
In order to bypass Hawaii’s 10-day traveler quarantine, she uploaded a vaccination card with the glaring spelling error to the state’s Safe Travels program and arrived in Honolulu Aug. 23 on a Southwest Airlines flight, authorities said in court documents.
The state public defender’s office represented her at previous hearings. “Our office did not receive an application from her for our services,” said Public Defender James Tabe. “Therefore, we are not representing her.”
It’s not clear if she hired an attorney. She hung up on an Associated Press reporter who asked her to comment on the allegations Wednesday.