SANTA ANA, Calif. – Police are asking for the public’s help finding a man accused of stealing more than $1 million worth of COVID-19 tests.
Authorities said Carlitos Peralta worked as the warehouse manager for Covid Clinic in Santa Ana. The business has seven warehouses nationwide where COVID-19 tests are stored for shipping to clinics, pop-up testing sites, schools, hotels and other customers, officials said.
Investigators determined that Peralta sent “large amounts” of COVID-19 tests to his home in nearly 100 shipments from multiple Covid Clinic warehouses. Authorities estimated the stolen tests were worth a total of $1,000,575.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Maria Lopez told the Los Angeles Times that Peralta, 33, rerouted one shipment of COVID-19 tests to his home by putting in his co-worker’s name as the sender. Lopez said the co-worker told their supervisors, who in turn told police.
Authorities determined that Peralta began rerouting shipments to himself on Dec. 30 and continued doing so until Feb. 7, according to the Times.
Anyone with information on Peralta’s whereabouts is asked to contact Detective Rashad Wilson at 714-245-8551.
