A man who was named “Paramedic of the Year” in 2020 was arrested on Monday for allegedly playing a role in stealing doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Joshua Colon, 21, of Florida, admitted to forging paperwork to hide the theft from his supervisor of three syringes of the Modern coronavirus vaccine, NBC News reported. Colon faces charges of forgery, fraud and misconduct.
Colon was named Paramedic of the Year in 2020 by the Round Table of Presidents in Polk County, Florida. He resigned on Friday.
Polk County Fire Rescue Captain Anthony Damiano, Colon Supervisor, supposedly joked about wanting a vaccine for his mother, threatening Colon when he didn’t give him the vaccines. The captain then ordered Colon to take a break, after which three pre-filled syringes of the vaccine disappeared.
Colon then falsified the paperwork when asked to provide documents for the vaccines.
Polk County sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference that the forgery was discovered when “discrepancies” were observed in three separate vaccine forms completed by Colon. The paramedic received three vials of the vaccine to administer to Polk County rescuers, NBC News reported.
The authorities contacted some of the people listed on the forms as recipients of the vaccine, only to find that none of them had been immunized.
“The end result is that Joshua tried to cover up the captain, Joshua created the circumstances for the vaccines to be stolen,” said Judd. “If Joshua had simply sought out his boss at that moment, he would have been the hero, but instead, he started to fake the paperwork by inventing people who didn’t exist to cover it up.”
Speaking to NBC News, a spokesman for the Polk County sheriff said the charges against Damiano were “imminent” and that he was on the run.
“Mr. Colon deeply regrets his weakness in not alerting the Chain of Command about 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 who represents Colon.