Because Davis said he'd tested positive, his employer had to shut down its plant for sanitising and put several other employees on paid leave while they quarantined, causing the company a loss of more than $100,000, prosecutors said.

A week later, Davis got a call at work and told his supervisors his mother, with whom he lived, had been exposed to someone who'd tested positive for COVID-19 and had been told to self-quarantine, according to a sworn statement from an FBI agent filed in court.

Over that weekend, Davis texted his supervisor on Saturday to say his mom had tested positive for COVID-19 and that he had a fever and again on Sunday saying that he'd tested positive, the agent's statement said.

That Sunday evening, the supervisor asked Davis to send him a copy of his test results and explained that if Davis had COVID-19 the company would have to shut for cleaning and other employees who'd worked closely with him would have to quarantine.

Relying on what Davis had said, the company closed its plant on March 23 for cleaning and paid salaries of at least four employees while they quarantined because they'd been in close contact with Davis, the agent's statement said.