Texas Man Arrested After Lying About Coronavirus on Facebook
Colin Kalmbacher with MSN reports:
A man in Texas was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor after admittedly lying about having tested positive for contracting the novel Coronavirus in a post on Facebook.
According to the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office, 23-year-old Michael Lane Brandin turned himself in after causing a small panic because his post also claimed that he was told the deadly contagion had evolved to spread even more easily than it already does.
“In a comment on the post, Brandin advised that he was informed by medical professionals in Tyler County that the virus had become airborne,” a press release by the sheriff’s office notes. “Brandin advised deputies his post was to make a point that you cannot believe everything you view online.”
Brandin’s self-described “social experiment” resulted in a slew of emergency calls to local law enforcement, medical, and emergency management authorities in East Texas—and a response from those same authorities due to the emergency declarations issued by both President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to police.
