T.J. Smith will be suspended for two weeks and on probation for six months.

T.J. Smith, the local police chief of Oakboro Town, North Carolina, has been suspended without pay for two weeks following the revelation that he had been spreading word of an unlicensed COVID-19 vaccination clinic that provides vaccination cards without actually administering shots.

In a letter sent to Smith by Town Administrator Doug Burgess, his offenses are outlined as “detrimental personal conduct including notifying law enforcement officers to attend a ‘clinic’ where they would be able to obtain proof of COVID 19 vaccination cards without being vaccinated,” the letter said.

Prior to the revelation, town officials had hired Blue Chameleon Investigations to conduct an independent investigation into the source of counterfeit vaccination cards. This hiring was spurred forward by rising COVID-19 cases in North Carolina brought about by the Omicron variant; according to Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, the state could see up to 10,000 new COVID-19 cases per day in January.

In an interview with local newspaper Stanly News & Press, Smith explained that a friend had informed him of the unlicensed clinic. “After I got off the phone with that friend, I called two other officers (not in my department) and passed on information about what was described as a ‘self-vaccination’ clinic,” he said. “I got one phone call, hung up and made two others. I didn’t sit back and digest the information, ruminate on it, or otherwise give it much thought. I just passed it on.”

“To make a long story short, in retrospect, I made a mistake.”

Smith’s suspension began on December 21 and will last for two weeks. Afterward, he will be on probation for six months.