Keys woman gets jail time for violating a health department’s COVID quarantine order
A Florida Keys woman was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating a state health department-issued quarantine order and the city of Key West’s mask ordinance in July after she had tested positive for COVID-19.
Yohana Gonzalez, 26, listed in jail records as a resident of Stock Island, pleaded no contest to both misdemeanors at the Monroe County Courthouse on Feb. 17.
Monroe County Judge Mark Wilson sentenced Gonzalez to 30 days on each count but made the jail terms concurrent.
“Thirty works,” Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward said of the sentence. “We’re not going to have people that should be under quarantine running around not respecting that quarantine.”
Gonzalez was taken into custody after the hearing, prosecutors said, and on Thursday was listed as being at the county jail on Stock Island.
Prosecutors had offered Gonzalez 120 days, or 60 days on each count. But instead of taking a deal, she chose to plead her case before Wilson, said Val Winter, chief assistant state attorney for Monroe County.
A message left at the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office was not returned Thursday.
Gonzalez was arrested July 29, 2020, along with Jose Antonio Freire Interian, 25. At the time, they lived together in Key West and both had tested positive for COVID-19.
Gonzalez was told she tested positive July 15, and she was directed by the state health department to isolate at home for at least 14 days and wear a mask at home because she had roommates, the health department said.
“Despite that directive, you failed to wear a face mask while at home and exposed all members of your household to COVID-19,” according to a quarantine order issued by the department on July 21.
On July 20, Gonzalez left her home to go shopping at a grocery store, the order says.
“Because you have failed to voluntarily remain in your residence, this order is necessary to protect the public health,” the order states, adding she must stay at home until July 31.
On July 29, the apartment building’s property manager reported to Key West police that both Gonzalez and Freire Interian had left home without wearing masks and provided video of them leaving and arriving home.
Gonzalez left her home to shop and jog, the manager told police, according to the arrest warrant.
In October 2020, Freire Interian was sentenced to 120 days in jail after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charges, having struck a deal with prosecutors.
Freire Interian on the same day pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge in a separate case in which he threatened a man with a golf club.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
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