In a Facebook page associated with Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, several photos show the law enforcer was promoting T-shirts with the slogan “COVID-19 imported virus from CHY-NA.” “Place your order while they last,” Baker wrote with a smiley face on another March 30 photo that included the racist T-shirts.
“Love my shirt,” Baker wrote in another post in April 2020. “Get yours while they last.'”
The shirts appear to be printed by
Deadline Appeal, owned by a former deputy sheriff from Cherokee County, and
sold for $22. The store, which promotes fully customizable gear, also appears to print shirts for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard, a “ceremonial unit, all volunteers, who represent not only the Sheriff's Office but also the county when participating in a variety of events,”
according to a March 10 Instagram post. The photos on Baker’s account were first spotted by a Twitter user.