A man who was named the “paramedic of the year” for 2020 was arrested Monday for allegedly playing a role in robbing doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Joshua Colon, 21, of Florida, admitted to falsifying documentation to hide the theft of three syringes from his supervisor’s coronavirus vaccine, NBC News reported. Colon faces charges of forgery, fraud and misconduct.
Colon was named Paramedic of the Year in 2020 by the Presidents ’Roundtable in Polk County, Florida. He resigned on Friday.
Polk County Fire Rescue Captain Anthony Damiano, Colon Supervisor, he allegedly joked about wanting a vaccine for his mother, threatening Colon when he didn’t give her the vaccines. The captain ordered Colon to take a break, after which three pre-filled syringes of the vaccine disappeared.
Colon falsified the documentation when asked to provide documents for the vaccines.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference that the forgery was discovered when “discrepancies” were noticed in three separate vaccine forms filled out by Colon. The paramedic had received three vials of the vaccine to administer to first aiders in Polk County, NBC News reported.
Authorities contacted some of the people listed on the forms as recipients of the vaccine, only to find out that none of them had been vaccinated.
“The bottom line is that Joshua tried to cover the captain, Joshua set up the circumstance for the vaccines to be stolen,” Judd said. “If Joshua had just gone to his head then he would have been the hero, but instead he started falsifying the paperwork by training people who didn’t exist to cover them up.”
Speaking to NBC News, a spokesman for the Polk County sheriff said the charges against Damiano were “imminent” and he was currently at large.
“Mr Colon deeply regrets his weakness in not alerting the chain of command of the vaccine theft, accepts responsibility for his mistake in covering up the theft and, in an effort to protect his agency’s reputation, has resigned. his position, “said David Carmichael, a lawyer representing Colon.