PHOENIX — A man who knowingly sold thousands of fake N95 masks during the pandemic in Phoenix, Arizona, gets probation and no jail time.
Mark Forrest Cohn, 68, was sentenced on Dec. 21 to a year of probation and to pay restitution which will include $8,028 in unpaid taxes and tariffs to the United States Customs and Border Protection, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona. Cohn reportedly pleaded guilty to a felony county of entry of goods by means of false statements.
Prosecutors said that Cohn imported N95 masks from China in October 2020 that reportedly appeared to look like they were manufactured by 3M, according to The Associated Press. The shipping labels appeared to look like they were goods that did not need to be inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
However, the AP said that a box of the masks was inspected once in Phoenix, Arizona. Photos of the masks were shared with 3M who confirmed that the masks were fake.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona said that on Nov. 23, 2020, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General agents along with a representative from 3M, inspected the masks at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minnesota. They were identified and seized before front-line workers got them.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona said that Cohn reportedly sold over 20,000 masks to a third-party vendor that supplied equipment to the VAMC warehouse in Minnesota. That third-party vendor did not know the masks were fake.
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