Connecticut man charged with faking positive COVID test to skip court

A Connecticut man has been charged with faking a positive COVID-19 test just so he could skip a court date.

Junior Jumpp, 31, of Hartford, was arrested Tuesday over the forged test result, the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice said.

Jumpp had been scheduled to appear before a New Britain Judicial District judge on Nov. 30 for a bond review hearing related to a string of criminal cases.

The judge excused Jumpp from appearing after his attorney said he’d received a screenshot from his client a day earlier that showed the so-called positive COVID test notification.

Investigators later determined the result was fake, authorities said.

Jumpp had been out on bond following a Nov. 16 arrest, in which he was charged with threatening and breach of peace.

The circumstances surrounding that incident weren’t immediately clear.

Under the conditions of his bond release, Jumpp was ordered not to be arrested for any other crimes.

In the wake of the fake COVID test saga, Jumpp is now being held on a $25,000 bond.

He is charged with one count each of forgery in the second degree and fabricating physical evidence.

Jumpp now has a total of 12 open criminal cases in New Britain and Hartford, authorities said.

He is scheduled to face court on Feb. 3.