A man was charged with false impersonation and identity theft Thursday after conducting COVID tests on employees at a Quik Trip.
A court document says Eddie Jameson, 27, posed as an inspector from the St. Louis County Department of Health and went to the Quik Trip located at 10739 Page Avenue. He said he was there to conduct COVID tests on store employees “so that county government could analyze the data to determine if certain restrictions should be eliminated or loosened.” He then had five employees fill out a form with their names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, addresses, and phone numbers. After the form was filled out, “he administered a nasal swab to the employees.”
He then left the store and drove away in a red Pontiac Solstice convertible. “St. Louis County Health Department employees confirmed that no county employees were conducting tests of the type “performed” by [Jameson],” the court document said. Jameson then went to a market located at 11683 West Florissant and attempted to do the same thing. The employees there refused.
The court document said Jameson returned to the Quik Trip two days later. He told the employees their results would be ready the following day. Police then arrived at the store and arrested him.
Once arrested, Jameson told police that “he had not identified himself as a County health inspector but otherwise admitted administering the tests.” The court document said Jameson “had been working for an organization called Community Wellness America which provides testing for employees. [Jameson] provided the name of a supervisor who confirmed that [Jameson] was working for him but he was not to be administering tests, rather he was to provide the tests so that employees could administer the tests themselves.” Jameson admitted he was not trained on administering a nasal swab. He said he “had never performed one prior to swabbing the employees at the Quik Trip.” According to the court document, James said “he was supposed to receive $20 for every test that was submitted, and explained that he needed money to pay his apartment lease and was trying to obtain the tests in order to get money.”