Bailey Schulz | USA TODAY
Two travelers to Hawaii face up to one year in prison and up to $5,000 in fines after falsifying vaccination cards.
Norbert Chung, 57, and Trevor Chung, 19, were arrested Sunday at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye Airport after violating the state’s Safe Travels program, which allows travelers from the U.S. and its territories to offer vaccine proof to bypass the state’s mandatory 10-day quarantine. Previously, all travelers, including vaccinated visitors, had to take a COVID test three days before departure to bypass quarantine.
Investigators from the Department of the Attorney General made the arrests after receiving a tip from a community member prior to their arrival, according to a statement from spokesperson Gary Yamashiroya. The two travelers were arraigned Thursday morning.
“The Department of the Attorney General will investigate and prosecute those who cheat the Safe Travels program, which was established to keep our islands safe,” Yamashiroya in a statement.
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This is the first case the office has brought against fraudulent vaccine proof under the Safe Travels program. The department declined to provide further details on the arrests.
At a news conference Tuesday, Hawaii Gov. David Ige used the arrest of the tourists as an example of the state’s strict enforcement of COVID restrictions.
“We’ve been pretty aggressive in enforcing and prosecuting those violators that we have become aware of,” he said. “We have pursued quarantine violations. We do have a case where we had travelers forging vaccination records that we’ve filed charges against.”
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Contributing: Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY.
