Stephanie Mills, of Coram, charged with forging vaccine records of 8 children at Middle Country school district
Students are required to have up-to-date vaccinations to attend school, including for measles, mumps and rubella. Stephanie Mills was charged with 17 first-degree felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Credit: AP / Mary Conlon
State police arrested a Coram woman Tuesday for allegedly forging vaccination records of eight children in the Middle Country Central School District, health officials said.
Stephanie Mills was charged with 17 first-degree felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing, the state health department announced.
"The Department’s investigation found that she allegedly forged signatures of real health care professionals and submitted the forms herself," department spokeswoman Erin Clary said in an email. "On at least one of the forms, she self-identified as a ‘home maker.’ "
Mills could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear if she had an attorney. Her age was not available on Tuesday.
The school district became aware of the fraud — which had been perpetrated for five years — and reported it to the Suffolk health department, which alerted the state, Clary said.
The 17 counts are for each alleged forged record, she said.
"Creating falsified vaccination records and submitting fraudulent immunization information to schools is a selfish and dangerous act that exacerbates the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases spreading through our communities," state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement.
Mills' arrest came after a state health department probe, part of a larger effort to fight vaccine fraud, a department statement said.
Health officials declined to disclose the ages of the children, the schools they attend and whether parents of the eight children knowingly participated in the fraud.
"To protect the identity of the affected children, the Department cannot comment," Clary wrote.
Mills is scheduled to be arraigned at Suffolk County District Court in Central Islip on April 14.
Vaccines are required to attend school in New York, except for the small number of children who can’t receive them for medical reasons.
Middle Country Central Superintendent Roberta Gerold said in a statement that the children with falsified records were excluded from school until there was "verifiable proof that the students had either received the required vaccinations or plans were made to ensure they did receive the required vaccinations." They all are in compliance now and back in school, she said.
Mills’ arrest comes as the health department is deciding whether to levy administrative fines against Julie DeVuono, a former Amityville nurse practitioner who the state suspects falsified more than 1,500 pediatric vaccinations.
Newsday reported in February that the health department sent subpoenas to 91 Long Island school districts, and 10 upstate and in New York City, because it suspected students there may have fraudulent vaccine records.
In January 2024, the health department fined Baldwin midwife Jeanette Breen $300,000 for falsifying vaccination records for nearly 1,500 children. She gave them homeopathic oral pellets instead of vaccines. The health department ordered more than 200 Long Island schools to bar students until they received real vaccines, Newsday reported.
The arrest also comes amid an outbreak of the highly contagious measles virus that has killed one child in Texas and may be the cause of death of a New Mexico adult, health authorities in the two states said. Both were unvaccinated. The center of the outbreak is in Texas, where there were 422 cases confirmed as of Tuesday. There are four confirmed measles cases in New York, according to the state health department.
Two of the falsified vaccination records tied to the 17 counts against Mills were for purported measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, which are given together, Clary said.
Mills’ alleged fraud "is probably the tip of the iceberg," said Donna Hallas, director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing.
Vaccines protect children and adults who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons, and others who are unvaccinated, Hallas said. Before measles vaccines, about 48,000 people a year were hospitalized and 400 to 500 people died in the United States of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It’s not like, 'This is my choice to get vaccinated or not,' " Hallas said. "It’s for public health protection."
Hallas said misinformation is muddying pro-vaccine messaging from public health agencies and leading parents to seek ways to avoid vaccinations for their children.
"People listen to incorrect information," Hallas said, "and they cause either harm to themselves or harm to the public."
State police arrested a Coram woman Tuesday for allegedly forging vaccination records of eight children in the Middle Country Central School District, health officials said.
Stephanie Mills was charged with 17 first-degree felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing, the state health department announced.
"The Department’s investigation found that she allegedly forged signatures of real health care professionals and submitted the forms herself," department spokeswoman Erin Clary said in an email. "On at least one of the forms, she self-identified as a ‘home maker.’ "
Mills could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear if she had an attorney. Her age was not available on Tuesday.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
Stephanie Mills, of Coram, was arrested Tuesday and charged with 17 felony counts in connection with falsifying the vaccination records of eight Middle Country Central School District children, the state health department said.
Mills is not a health care provider, the state said. She forged real health care professionals’ signatures and submitted forms, the state alleges. The school district detected the fraud and reported it.
The eight children were excluded from school until they could show they obtained or were in the process of obtaining vaccinations that are required by state law to attend school, Middle Country Superintendent Roberta Gerold said. They are all back at school.
The school district became aware of the fraud — which had been perpetrated for five years — and reported it to the Suffolk health department, which alerted the state, Clary said.
The 17 counts are for each alleged forged record, she said.
"Creating falsified vaccination records and submitting fraudulent immunization information to schools is a selfish and dangerous act that exacerbates the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases spreading through our communities," state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement.
Mills' arrest came after a state health department probe, part of a larger effort to fight vaccine fraud, a department statement said.
Health officials declined to disclose the ages of the children, the schools they attend and whether parents of the eight children knowingly participated in the fraud.
"To protect the identity of the affected children, the Department cannot comment," Clary wrote.
Mills is scheduled to be arraigned at Suffolk County District Court in Central Islip on April 14.
Vaccines are required to attend school in New York, except for the small number of children who can’t receive them for medical reasons.
Middle Country Central Superintendent Roberta Gerold said in a statement that the children with falsified records were excluded from school until there was "verifiable proof that the students had either received the required vaccinations or plans were made to ensure they did receive the required vaccinations." They all are in compliance now and back in school, she said.
Mills’ arrest comes as the health department is deciding whether to levy administrative fines against Julie DeVuono, a former Amityville nurse practitioner who the state suspects falsified more than 1,500 pediatric vaccinations.
Newsday reported in February that the health department sent subpoenas to 91 Long Island school districts, and 10 upstate and in New York City, because it suspected students there may have fraudulent vaccine records.
In January 2024, the health department fined Baldwin midwife Jeanette Breen $300,000 for falsifying vaccination records for nearly 1,500 children. She gave them homeopathic oral pellets instead of vaccines. The health department ordered more than 200 Long Island schools to bar students until they received real vaccines, Newsday reported.
The arrest also comes amid an outbreak of the highly contagious measles virus that has killed one child in Texas and may be the cause of death of a New Mexico adult, health authorities in the two states said. Both were unvaccinated. The center of the outbreak is in Texas, where there were 422 cases confirmed as of Tuesday. There are four confirmed measles cases in New York, according to the state health department.
Two of the falsified vaccination records tied to the 17 counts against Mills were for purported measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, which are given together, Clary said.
Mills’ alleged fraud "is probably the tip of the iceberg," said Donna Hallas, director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing.
Vaccines protect children and adults who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons, and others who are unvaccinated, Hallas said. Before measles vaccines, about 48,000 people a year were hospitalized and 400 to 500 people died in the United States of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It’s not like, 'This is my choice to get vaccinated or not,' " Hallas said. "It’s for public health protection."
Hallas said misinformation is muddying pro-vaccine messaging from public health agencies and leading parents to seek ways to avoid vaccinations for their children.
"People listen to incorrect information," Hallas said, "and they cause either harm to themselves or harm to the public."
David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
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