Texas police search for woman they say claimed on social media that she would spread coronavirus
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Police in Texas announced on Sunday they are looking for a woman who claimed on Snapchat to have tested positive for COVID-19 and was "willfully spreading it."
Police identified the woman as Lorraine Maradiaga, 18. She stands to be charged with terroristic threat, Texas Penal Code 22.07, they said.
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"We have no confirmation Maradiaga is actually a threat to public health," the department announced on Facebook Sunday night. "We are, however, taking her social media actions very seriously."
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The woman allegedly recorded herself shopping at what she claimed to be a local Walmart, according to Fort Worth's KXAS-TV.
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"I'm here at Walmart about to infest every [expletive] because if I'm going down, all you [expletive] are going down," she allegedly said in the Snapchat video.
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A police spokesman told the station that officers went to her home on Sunday, but she wasn't there. Police added that her family was cooperating with them.
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Texas has 7,294 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 140 deaths as of early Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
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Anyone with more information is asked to call 972-466-3333 or email CrimeTips@CityofCarrollton.com.