2 Florida men charged with stealing ventilators headed to El Salvador

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Two Florida men are facing federal charges that allege they stole nearly 200 ventilators the United States was shipping to El Salvador to help the Central American country treat coronavirus patients.

Yoelvis Hernandez and Luis Montero stole a trailer containing 192 ventilators from a Palm Beach County parking lot on Aug. 9 as the driver was transporting them to Miami International Airport, where they would be shipped to El Salvador, prosecutors said Friday.

Court records do not indicate if the men have attorneys.

Ventilators are used to treat coronavirus patients when they cannot breathe on their own. According to the U.S. government, El Salvador has been hard hit by the disease. The country of 6.4 million people has had 1,180 deaths or one for every 5,441 residents.

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The United States has done worse, however, with one coronavirus death per every 1,130 residents.

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