BALTIMORE (AP) — Three Baltimore County men have been accused by federal prosecutors of running a fraudulent website to sell coronavirus vaccines for $30 a dose.
A news release from the U.S. Attorney for Maryland on Thursday announced that Olakitan Oluwalade, 22, his cousin, Odunayo Baba Oluwalade, 25, and Kelly Lamont Williams, 22, had been indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, The Baltimore Sun reported. If convicted, each man could face 20 years in federal prison. According to the newspaper, the attorneys for the three men couldn’t be reached for comment.
According to the news release, the men created their phony website to resemble the site of a biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which the newspaper identified as vaccine maker Moderna.
Last month, a federal agent ordered 6,000 doses of vaccine through the website and received instructions to wire half the money to a Navy Federal Credit Union account in Williams’ name, prosecutors said. Federal agents soon seized the fake website and searched Williams’ home, and they found communications between Williams and the Oluwalade cousins. An agent then pretended to be Williams and sent some of the money for the phantom vaccines to the cousins, prosecutors said.
The men are scheduled to appear in federal court in Baltimore on Friday.
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