Two nurses on Long Island are accused of accumulating greater than $1.5 million by promoting solid Covid-19 vaccination playing cards, in line with the Suffolk County district lawyer’s workplace.
The nurses, Julie DeVuono, who owns Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, and Marissa Urraro, her worker, bought pretend vaccination playing cards and entered false info into New York’s immunization database, prosecutors stated. They charged $220 for solid playing cards for adults and $85 for kids, in line with the district lawyer’s workplace.
Ms. DeVuono, 49, and Ms. Urraro, 44, have been arraigned on Friday, every charged with one rely of second-degree forgery. Ms. DeVuono was additionally charged with one rely of providing a false instrument for submitting.
Michael Alber, Ms. Urraro’s lawyer, stated she had entered a plea of not responsible and had been launched with out bail.
“We look forward to highlighting the legal impediments and defects in this investigation,” Mr. Alber stated. “An accusation should not overshadow the good work Ms. Urraro has done for children and adults in the medical field.”
Ms. DeVuono’s lawyer couldn’t be reached for remark.
During their arraignment on Friday, prosecutors accused the ladies of forging a vaccine card for an undercover detective, despite the fact that the vaccine had not been administered.
Prosecutors stated legislation enforcement officers searched Ms. DeVuono’s dwelling and seized about $900,000 in money and a ledger which recommended they made $1.5 million within the scheme from November to January.
The ledger present in Julie DeVuono’s dwelling and recovered by legislation enforcement officers.Credit…Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office
“I hope this sends a message to others who are considering gaming the system that they will get caught and that we will enforce the law to the fullest extent,” the Suffolk County district lawyer, Raymond A. Tierney, stated in an announcement.
Rodney Ok. Harrison, the Suffolk County police commissioner, stated in an announcement, “As nurses, these two individuals should understand the importance of legitimate vaccination cards as we all work together to protect public health.”
Nurses in South Carolina and Michigan have additionally confronted fees for vaccine card forgery in latest months.
In December, a nurse in Columbia, S.C., was indicted by a federal grand jury on fees of creating fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination playing cards, in line with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the District of South Carolina. In September, a nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Michigan was charged with stealing genuine vaccination playing cards from the hospital and reselling them, in line with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Yvonne Gamble, a spokeswoman for the Office of Inspector General on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, stated schemes involving solid vaccination playing cards, just like the one on Long Island, broken efforts to curb the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“The proliferation of fake Covid-19 vaccination cards can jeopardize efforts to address the ongoing public health emergency,” Ms. Gamble stated. “Therefore, we encourage the public to obtain valid proof of Covid-19 vaccination from their administering medical providers instead of creating fake vaccination cards or purchasing them from unauthorized sources.”