A pediatric nurse practitioner in Amityville, NY pled guilty to selling fake COVID mRNA vaccination cards for over $1.5 million in profits.
As part of her plea deal, Julie DeVuono, 51, pled guilty to one count of second-degree money laundering, one count of second-degree forgery, and one count of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
She also agreed to shutter her practice, Kids-On-Call Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, P.C., doing business as Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare.
The #Suffolk County DA arrested two people including the owner of an Amityville pediatric office for selling fake Covid-19 vaccine cards. $220 for adults, $85 for children. Ledgers show they may have made $1.5 million dollars from this illegal scheme #NBC4NY pic.twitter.com/jm0bcOkCeX
— Pei-Sze Cheng (@PeiSzeCheng4NY) January 28, 2022
DeVuono was arrested in 2022 on a 34-count indictment, according to reports. Police seized over $900,000 cash while executing a search warrant in her home.
Officers also found a handwritten ledger in the home that shows DeVuono and Marissa Urraro, a licensed practical nurse, earned over $1.5 million selling fake vaccine cards between November 2021 and January 2022.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office launched an investigation after the nurses sold fake COVID vaccine cards to undercover officers.
Prosecutors say DeVuono and Urraro sold forged COVID vaccination cards which stated patients had received mRNA vaccinations. DeVuono then entered the false information into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS).
According to the indictment, patients paid between $220 and $350 for a fake vaccination card and a false entry into the NYSIIS.
DeVuono then laundered the profits by transferring funds through several bank accounts and paying off the mortgage on her Amityville home, prosecutors said.
As part of her guilty plea, DeVuono agreed to forfeit a total of $1,252,540.63 previously seized from her home and bank accounts, along with equity in her Amityville home, prosecutors said.
DeVuono also surrendered her professional nursing licenses as a Nurse Practitioner and a Registered Professional Nurse to the New York State Department of Education.
DeVuono is expected to be sentenced to six months in prison, as well as serve 840 hours of community service and 5 years of supervised probation.
DeVuono’s husband is an NYPD police officer. He was not charged in the criminal enterprise.
They need to arrest every single person who purchased a fake vaccine card as well. #LockThemUp
— KD (@Fly_Sistah) January 28, 2022
What an insult to all the dedicated hardworking nurses out there exhausted for caring for sick and suffering COVID-19 patients.
— Melody Butler (@MelodyButler) January 29, 2022
Stop it, melody. Ppl wouldn’t need these cards if they weren’t forced to choose btw living their life or taking an experimental and clearly now ineffective injection.
— isabell temple (@isabelltemple) January 29, 2022
