A Florida man faces federal hoax charges for spitting and coughing on police officers and claiming to be infected with the new coronavirus while he was being arrested on domestic violence charges, Reuters reports.

Federal prosecutors in Tampa charged James Jamal Curry, 31, with “perpetrating a biological weapons hoax”, a charge that carries up to a five-year sentence if he is convicted for coughing and spitting on officers from the St Petersburg police during a pair of domestic violence calls.