By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAN is on trial for attempting to use a fraudulent COVID-19 test to travel earlier this year.
Joseph Wallace Whitfield is currently on trial before Magistrate Samuel McKinney after he denied possessing and uttering a forged document.
Prosecutors alleged that Whitfield presented a fake Doctors Hospital health system negative COVID-19 RT PCR test to a COVID ambassador at Lynden Pindling International Airport in March.
When Harriet Lundy-Gardiner, the hospital’s director of laboratory services, gave evidence yesterday, she said she was asked to confirm whether Whitfield’s PCR test results were fraudulent or legitimate at the time of the incident. She said when the documents were run through the hospital’s management system, it was revealed the accused did not get his test from the medical facility.
The officer who interviewed Whitfield when he was taken into custody was the second person to take the stand. During her testimony, she said that Whitfield told police he got the document from Doctors Hospital for $140. She also said his phone was sent to the Criminal Investigation Department for the electronic test to be extracted. She said during the procedure, it was revealed that Whitfield received the fake test from one of his contacts who was messaging him on WhatsApp. The officer said while attempts were made to trace the owner of the number, when they tried to call it, no one answered.
The case continues on November 19.
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