HORN LAKE, Miss.-Two Horn Lake men that pretended to have Ebola are facing charges for the hoax in October.
The Commercial Appeal reported that Allen Wayne Beard and Robert Lee Molts are charged under a Mississippi law that makes it illegal to cause someone to falsely believe that the person could be “exposed to a harmful biological substance.”
“Just a joke that went way overboard,” said Allen Beard. “My friend was joking about it. We were joking about it and the next thing you know the friend starts freaking out and pouring bleach over his head, crying to the fire department.”
That friend’s dad is who called firefighters. Police had the men come to the fire station in their car, where they waited for three hours, windows up, until authorities determined it was a joke.
Authorities say a man reported Beard and Moltz told his son they’d been to Africa and had tested positive for Ebola.
Beard told officers it was a joke and he and Moltz had never been to Africa.
Mayor Allen Latimer did not take the situation lightly and said, “What if a real emergency had come up at the same time? Then of course they (firefighters) couldn’t have gotten there because they were having to sit here.”
Beard and Moltz could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
