SANTA ANA – A former warehouse manager for a Santa Ana COVID-19 business pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing more than $1 million in tests and attempting to steal more worth an additional $270,000.
Carlos Peralta, a former employee of Covid Clinic, pleaded guilty to six counts of grand theft by employee and seven counts of forgery, all felonies. As part of the plea deal, sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime exceeding $500,000 were stricken, according to court records.
Santa Ana police in February of last year asked for the public’s help tracking down Peralta, who was arrested Oct. 4.
Peralta was the warehouse manager of the business at 3401 W. MacArthur Blvd., according to Sgt. Maria Lopez of the Santa Ana Police Department. The warehouse ships tests for the virus to customers throughout the country such as clinics, pop-up testing sites, schools and hotels, police said.
Peralta had about 100 separate shipments of COVID-19 tests sent to his home from several of the clinic’s warehouses, police said.
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