Woman pleads not guilty in bogus COVID vaccine cards case

A Whittier-area woman arrested last year for allegedly possessing and selling counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine cards pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge.

Charlene Bohorquez, 31, is charged with one count of deceptive document crime, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Bohorquez was arrested Nov. 5 by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and released later that day, according to jail records.

Detectives had received information from U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations personnel regarding “the importation of counterfeit COVID-19 vaccine cards shipped from China into the United States,” the sheriff’s department announced last year shortly after the woman’s arrest.

Sheriff’s officials said the bogus cards were being sent to Bohorquez at an address near Whittier, leading to the search last Nov. 5 of the home, which turned up “dozens” of bogus vaccine cards and other evidence.

“Upon questioning, suspect Bohorquez admitted to detectives that she ordered the cards online from a vendor in China and that she had intended to sell them to people who were reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” according to a sheriff’s department statement. “The suspect also admitted to previously selling additional counterfeit COVID-19 cards in the past.”