Two sentenced in Utah court for scheme to steal, sell COVID-19 vaccination cards

File photo by Ian Halperin/UPI

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 6, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — The Department of Justice Utah District on Wednesday announced the sentences handed down in June for two people convicted of stealing and conspiring to sell COVID-19 vaccination cards.

Dino A. Rende, 19, of Los Angeles, California, and Francis J. Rende II, 29, of La Mesa, California, were both sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to pay $500 dollars in restitution after pleading guilty to misdemeanor conspiracy to steal or
convert government property charges stemming from the theft of Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards.

“In the plea agreement, both defendants admitted that between March 2021 and August 2021, they conspired to defraud the Centers for Disease Control by agreeing to sell stolen CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards to others for $50 each,” the DOJ Utah statement says.

“Both defendants also admitted that defendant Francis Rende II stole at least 20 CDC Vaccination Record Cards in March of 2021, that he sent his brother, Defendant Dino Rende, some of the stolen vaccination record cards, and that they agreed to use them and sell them to others for $50.

“Both brothers admitted that they had agreed to sell the CDC vaccination record cards to several buyers for $50 each.”

Assistant United States Attorney Todd Bouton from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

Special Agents from the Utah Department of Public Safety State Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation, the DOJ Utah statement said.

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