Probation ordered for woman who sold fake COVID-19 tests at Salt Lake airport

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SALT LAKE CITY — A woman convicted of selling fake negative COVID-19 tests in the Salt Lake City International Airport will face no jail time.

Linda Tufui Toli, 28, was charged with knowingly selling counterfeit COVID-19 tests to travelers between July and September 2021. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced earlier this month to 36 months of probation.

Toli also agreed to pay $4,495 in restitution, at a minimum rate of $100 per month, according to court records.

Prosecutors said Toli worked at a company called XpresCheck, which offered testing for COVID-19 inside airports. XpresCheck specifically offered testing inside the Salt Lake airport for people traveling to places like Hawaii or other destinations that required testing for coronavirus prior to boarding.

Prosecutors said the scheme started in July 2021 and lasted through September. Toli was accused of intercepting calls from people wanting to schedule COVID-19 tests to travel and canceling their appointments through XpresCheck in order to sell counterfeit negative tests. The charging documents allege that Toli was aware the tests were fake.

Toli would then arrange for the travelers to send money to her personal bank account through apps like Cash App and Venmo, generally charging between $200 and $250, according to the charges.

She was accused of using an email account that contained her middle name to obtain the necessary information to create the phony test results and send the document back to travelers. The email account was also used to instruct travelers on how to upload the fake test results to websites so they would be cleared for travel, the charges allege.

The wire fraud count stems from an alleged September transaction where a fraudulent test was sent to an individual who had paid Toli $200 through Venmo.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of three months in jail, but federal public defenders successfully argued that this punishment would be "greater than necessary" because Toli "did not act out of a selfish motive of personal enrichment," according to the sentencing memorandum.

Rather, it states, that Toli's actions were motivated by the need to care for her father, who was laid off during the pandemic and was facing major medical problems. By the time of her crime, she had moved in with him and taken over his mortgage payment, car payments and utilities, the memorandum continues.

"Unfortunately, her goodwill became unsustainable on her own as costs mounted," her attorneys said. "Then, regrettably, she saw an opportunity for help by diverting customer payments to herself. ... Though criminal, her actions were motivated by a desire to care for her father and desperation about how she could do that."

The defense also argued that Toli demonstrated "extraordinary acceptance of responsibility" by confessing up front that she'd sold at least 17 counterfeit COVID-19 tests. At that time, "a number of" these sales were unknown to the FBI, according to the memorandum.

"Ms. Toli's full cooperation was the basis for discovering the extent of her fraud, and she deeply regrets her actions," it states. "Though her actions were motivated by a desire to care for her family, she understands they were wrong. She has worked hard to chart a better course since then. Any term of incarceration will over-punish her and will undermine her ability to make restitution."