Two nurses from New York’s Long Island were arrested on Friday after forging Covid-19 vaccination cards and entering the fake jabs in the state’s database, a scam that allegedly raked in more than $1.5 million.
Julie DeVuono, 49, the owner and operator of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville and her employee, Marissa Urraro, 44, are each being charged with one count of forgery in the second degree. DeVuono is also being charged with an additional count of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree.
The two charged adults $220 apiece and $85 per child for a fake record that would land in the New York State Immunization Information System database, in records from November ’21 to January ’22. Prosecutors said the two provided immunization cards to an undercover detective without ever providing the shots.
Officials said officers seized roughly $900,000 from DeVuono’s home, and found a ledger providing documentation for approximately $1.5 million in profits.
DeVuono’s husband Derin DeVuono, who is a New York Police Department officer, is being investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau in terms of his possible involvement in his wife’s alleged scheme.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law a month ago that criminalized fake Covid-19 immunization cards.