LAKEWOOD - A township man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly coughed inside a liquor store and falsely claimed he had the coronavirus, police said.

Juan Gómez Sánchez, 25, was charged with disorderly conduct and is expected to be in court next month, police said.

Police officers responded Wednesday afternoon to the Pine Cone Liquor Store, at 248 Second St., after receiving a report that an unidentified male was coughing and stating that he had the novel coronavirus. The man then left on foot.

Police officer Stephen Kowaleski encountered Gómez Sánchez on Clifton Avenue. After initially offering Gómez Sánchez medical attention, Kowaleski determined that Gómez Sánchez made up the story about being sick because the store employee refused to sell him cigarettes.

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This is the second of such incident to happen in the Shore area in less than a week. A Freehold Township man is facing charges after allegedly coughing on a Wegmans employee in Manalapan and claiming he had the coronavirus on March 22.

George Falcone, 50, was charged with making terroristic threats, harassment and obstruction after officials said he refused to identify himself or provide identification to township police for more than 40 minutes, according to a news release from the state Attorney General's Office.

Gov. Phil Murphy, who mentioned the incident at a news conference Tuesday, said police responded to a call after a man was in a confrontation with a female employee of the supermarket chain and then "coughed on the woman and told her after doing so that he had the coronavirus."

The employee told Falcone, who was shopping at the Wegmans about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, that he was standing too close to her and an open display of prepared foods, according to the news release. The woman asked him to step back as she covered the food.

That request prompted Falcone to step forward to within 3 feet of her, lean over and "purposefully" cough. He then allegedly laughed and said he was infected with the coronavirus, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Gustavo Martínez Contreras covers Lakewood. Contact him at gmartinez@gannettnj.com or at 732-643-4061.