We have identified the woman seen on social media claiming to be COVID-19 positive as 18-year-old Lorraine Maradiaga and are charging her with Terroristic Threat, Texas Penal Code 22.07.
We have not located her yet. Tips: (972) 466-3333 or [email protected]. pic.twitter.com/KySDDXL2RH
— Carrollton TX Police (@CarrolltonTXPD) April 5, 2020
Police in Carrollton, Texas said they’re looking for an 18-year-old who claimed on social media to have the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Lorraine Maradiaga is charged with terroristic threat. She allegedly said she was spreading it to others on purpose.
Judging by the official allegation, officials are not sure if she’s for real or just making a weird claim.
“We have no confirmation Maradiaga is actually a threat to public health,” they wrote. “We are, however, taking her social media actions very seriously.”
The charge stems from a number of Snapchat videos. One clip a showed a driver going through a drive-thru testing site, and a nurse telling this person to wait at home for results, according NBC DFW.
A woman identified as Maradiaga was allegedly shown in another video walking through Walmart. She said she was going to infect every person there “because if I’m going down, all you [censored] are going down.” Another piece of footage purportedly showed her coughing into the camera, and saying that if the viewer wanted to get COVID-19 and “[censored] die,” then call her. She’d allegedly said she’d shorten their life.
Officers said that her family was cooperating with them. Cops went to her home on Sunday, but she wasn’t present.
[Image via Carrollton Police Department]
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