A Missouri man was charged after impersonating a health inspector and administering COVID tests to gain personal information and pay his apartment lease, reports say

• A Missouri man was charged for posing as a health inspector, reports say.
• Eddie Jameson, 27, is accused of conducting COVID-19 tests to collect money to pay his apartment lease.

A Missouri man was charged for posing as a health official and administering COVID tests to pay for his apartment lease, according to reports.

Eddie Jameson, 27, is facing five counts of identity theft and false impersonation charges, KSDK reported.

The outlet reported that Jameson allegedly entered a convenience store claiming he was a St. Louis County Health Department health inspector that was sent to the establishment to administer COVID tests to see if restrictions could be removed, according to local authorities.

According to the report, he collected personal information from five staff members —including their name, address, and driver's license number — and conducted nasal swab tests on them.

KMOV reported that Jameson returned to the store 48 hours later, telling employees that their results would be available the next day. However, police arrived at the scene and took him into custody.

Before he was arrested, Jameson is also accused of going to a different market trying to collect information again but was turned down by employees, the report said.

Jameson, an employee at an organization that gives employees COVID tests, was only supposed to hand them out, his supervisor said, KMOV reported.

During interrogation, Jameson told investigators that he was not trained in conducting COVID tests and that he was going to get $20 for each test, according to the reports.

KSDK reported that he told police that the cash was needed to "pay his apartment lease " and that he "was trying to obtain the tests in order to get money."