Honolulu airport: Vacationers bribe to bypass covid-19 testing

Two travelers visiting Hawaii from Louisiana were being arrested on Friday and accused of providing a Honolulu airport screener $3,000 to permit them go with no quarantining or offering the negative coronavirus tests demanded for entry, officials say.

Johntrell White, 29, and Nadia Bailey, 28, were charged with bribery and flown again to the mainland. The two allegedly flew to Daniel K. Inouye Intercontinental Airport devoid of any coronavirus check outcomes and informed an airport screener not to warn officers in trade for income.

White is accused of offering the screener $2,000 to stay clear of quarantine, and Bailey presented the exact screener an additional $1,000, the Hawaii Legal professional General’s Workplace and Office of General public Basic safety noted in a covid-19 update from the governor’s place of work.

“The screener alerted deputy sheriffs, who arrested them both equally for bribery. White and Bailey were being booked and produced and right away flew again to the mainland,” the governor’s news update stated. “The legal professional general’s investigation is continuing.”

Bribery is punishable in Hawaii by up to 15 yrs in jail and can be fined up to triple the bribe volume.

Hawaii’s “Safe Travels” method demands all site visitors to current a adverse coronavirus test finished by a state-permitted lab inside of 72 hrs of vacation.

Those people who arrive with no test or a constructive examination are necessary to quarantine for 14 days. Travelers have been arrested in the past for breaking quarantine prerequisites on the island following arrival, and in December, two guests from San Francisco who knew they had the coronavirus flew to Hawaii.

On the similar working day that Bailey and White had been billed with bribery, officers say, a guy traveling to from Wisconsin was also arrested and accused of breaking quarantine just after he arrived without having a coronavirus test. The man, Anthony Johnson, 44, checked into a lodge that was not his specified quarantine facility and attempted to go swimming.

This Monday by itself, Hawaii observed 11,591 passengers get there from out of condition. Officers say 6,870 of all those arrivals have been entering for a family vacation 1,484 have been returning Hawaii residents.

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