LIHU‘E — Two people traveling from Los Angeles to Kaua‘i were arrested at Lihu‘e Airport on Tuesday for falsifying negative COVID-19 tests, according to a press release from the Kaua‘i Police Department.
LIHU‘E — Two people traveling from Los Angeles to Kaua‘i were arrested at Lihu‘e Airport on Tuesday for falsifying negative COVID-19 tests, according to a press release from the Kaua‘i Police Department.
Lazar Hayward Jr. and Raven Randle of California were arrested for unsworn falsification after uploading counterfeit test results to the Hawai‘i Safe Travels portal, the online platform where visitors to Hawai‘i upload COVID-19 test or vaccination documentation before entering the state, in an apparent attempt to avoid quarantine requirements upon arrival.
Hayward and Randle were driven back to Lihu‘e Airport after booking, where they caught a direct flight back to Los Angeles. No court date has been set. KPD said the couple paid for the flight themselves.
The arrests were made after Safe Travels personnel flagged Hayward and Randle’s documents and notified the state Department of the Attorney General’s investigations division, which then alerted KPD. These were the first arrests made on Kaua‘i for the falsification of COVID-19 documents.
Other arrests have been made across the state after visitors falsified documents, including in the case of one Illinois woman who was arrested at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu for using a forged vaccine card on which “Moderna” was misspelled as “Maderna.” She was sent back to the mainland and a warrant has since been issued for her arrest after she failed to appear for an online court hearing.
Falsifying a vaccination card can lead to a fine of up to $5,000, as much as a year in prison, or both.
Kaua‘i has stepped up its enforcement of COVID-19 rules in the last month. In early September, Mayor Derek Kawakami issued an emergency rule allowing certain Kaua‘i County authorities other than police officers to issue $250 fines to individuals and $500 to businesses for violating indoor-mask requirements or limits on gathering size.
According to KPD Lt. Darren Rose, two fines of the $250 variety have been issued since the rule was enacted.
•••
Kaleb Lay, general assignment reporter, can be reached at 647-0329 or klay@thegardenisland.com.
It’s clear that the travel to Hawaii program is racist. So is the airplane, the runway, the air, the expectation of knowing how to spell, being honest, and more.
You may be looking in the wrong direction for the racism.
Please amend this article by including the information if they were or we not Covid tested with negative results before putting them on that direct flight back to L.A.