2 New York Pediatric Nurses Rake Over $1.5 Million in Selling Fake COVID-19 Vaccine Card

According to authorities, two nurses on Long Island, New York, reportedly made fake COVID-19 vaccine cards and submitted the fraudulent vaccinations in the state's database in a scam that netted over $1.5 million.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office announced on Friday that Julie DeVuono, 49, the owner and operator of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville and her staff Marissa Urraro, 44, were arrested on Thursday.

New York nurses charged for faking vaccine cards

Both women were charged with forgery in the second degree, as per NBC News. According to the press release, DeVuono was also charged with first-degree presenting a fraudulent instrument for filing.

The New York State Department of Health provided COVID-19 vaccinations, vaccine cards, and medical syringes to DeVuono, a nurse practitioner, and Urraro, a licensed practical nurse, according to prosecutors.

They reportedly faked official documents to show that an undercover investigator was given a vaccination on one or more occasions although they never received the injection. DeVuono and Urraro are also accused of falsifying data in the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS).

Prosecutors claimed that the fraudulent vaccine cards cost $220 for adults and $85 for children. During a search of DeVuono's house, law enforcement investigators recovered $900,000, as well as a ledger detailing their gains of more than $1.5 million from November 2021 to January 2022, according to the news release.

Per CBS New York, DeVuono allegedly paid $220 for adults and $85 for children to submit false information into the New York State Immunization Information System, generating $1.5 million in only three months.

New York Gov. Hochul made faking vaccine cards a criminal offense

Although the government delivered vaccinations and syringes to the practice, patients never received a vaccine. According to the New York Daily News, when police searched DeVuono's house in Amityville, they discovered $900,000 in cash, some of it hidden in NYPD-issued helmet bags, raising suspicions about her husband Derin, a police officer from Brooklyn's 60th Precinct.

Both nurse practitioners have been charged with forgery, and DeVuono has been charged with submitting a fake instrument. Both ladies were pictured leaving Suffolk County Court on Friday, where they had pleaded not guilty to their charges and were freed without bail.

Derin is apparently being investigated internally to discover if he was involved in his wife's shady company. Derin had forfeited five vacation days in 2020 after being accused of flying a penis-shaped flight route in an NYPD jet as a member of the force's Aviation Unit in 2017.

The news comes just days after parents marched in a Parents Rights Rally on Long Island where many parents withdrew their children out of school to protest the wearing of masks.

Furthermore, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, 63, made faking vaccine cards a criminal offense. Falsifying vaccine cards will now be a misdemeanor in the state while tampering vaccination cards using a computer will now also be a crime.