Will those who bought fake vaccination cards be prosecuted by Suffolk County?

Although two nurses and another employee of an Amityville pediatric practice are being prosecuted for an alleged fake COVID-19 vaccination card scheme, it’s unclear if the thousands of people who bought the cards will be charged, and whether their names will be removed from state vaccination databases.

The owner and two employees of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare were arrested Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 in connection with what authorities allege was the completion of vaccination cards of people who were never inoculated and the entering of that false information into the state immunization database.

The three, who pleaded not guilty during their arraignments, face felony forgery charges. The scheme brought in $1.5 million, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Buying and possessing those fake cards also is a crime.

Tania Lopez, spokeswoman for Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney, declined to comment on whether anyone who purchased the cards will be prosecuted. She also declined to state how many cards allegedly were sold, citing the "ongoing investigation."

Each false card and entry into the database cost $220 for adults and $85 for children, the district attorney’s office stated. With a profit of $1.5 million, that would mean at least 6,800 forged cards were issued.

Prosecutors believe false information was entered onto authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cards, Lopez said.

State Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-North Hills), who sponsored recently enacted legislation that clarifies that forgery and possession of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards is illegal, called on Tierney to prosecute cardholders.

"We passed this vaccination card law for a reason, to make sure we highlight and hold people accountable," she said.

Other New Yorkers have been prosecuted for possession of fake vaccination cards. On Jan. 26, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced that a suburban Buffalo couple was charged with felony criminal possession of a forged instrument for using falsified cards to attend a Buffalo Bills football playoff game.

Kaplan on Jan. 29 sent a letter to state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett asking whether there’s a process to remove the names of those who bought the cards from the database, and whether Excelsior Passes — apps that document proof of vaccination — can be revoked.

Kaplan also asked Bassett if there’s a way to flag potentially fraudulent vaccine information.

"The fact a small office in Suffolk County is issuing so many vaccine cards and Excelsior Passes to people is a red flag," Kaplan said in an interview.

State Department of Health spokeswoman Samantha Fuld declined to respond to Kaplan’s letter.

"We will be responding to the letter directly and to do so outside of that would be inappropriate," Fuld wrote in an email Jan. 30.

The senator had not received a response as of Sunday, Kaplan spokesman Sean Ross Collins-Sweeney said.

Although Fuld did not respond directly to the letter, she said in an email that "every effort is made to combat vaccine fraud overall, including to remove false data from state databases when the Department becomes aware of such data."

Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of public health and epidemiology at Northwell Health, said vaccination card fraud "corrupts the entire system and, quite frankly, it’s just horrible."

People — including those most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 — rely on them to increase their safety in hospitals, workplaces and, in places with vaccine mandates for indoor activities, venues such as restaurants and concert halls.

"All of our health care workers are now vaccinated, and if some of them have fake vaccine cards, it really potentially endangers patients unnecessarily and can potentially cause deaths and illnesses," Farber said.

Vaccinated people are far less likely to contract and spread the coronavirus than unvaccinated people, studies show.

Fuld said "halting the use of fake vaccination cards is of the utmost importance to the New York State Department of Health" and that the department "worked closely" with Suffolk authorities in the Amityville investigation.

In response to unconfirmed reports online that fake records for other types of vaccinations — such as for mandatory childhood inoculations — also are being issued, Kaplan is planning to introduce in the coming days a bill clarifying that entering false information into any state or New York City vaccination database, not just those for COVID-19, is a crime, Collins-Sweeney said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 22 signed into law the bill co-sponsored by Kaplan that makes clear that forgery laws apply to COVID-19 vaccination cards and databases.

Kaplan said existing law appeared to cover the cards and databases, but the new legislation was needed to clarify that it applied to COVID-19 vaccinations.

But Fred Klein, a visiting assistant professor of law at Hofstra University and former chief of the major offense bureau in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, said the new law may have inadvertently provided an opening for defense attorneys. Some forgery offenses are misdemeanors and some are felonies.

"The way they wrote it, I think they created an unnecessary problem as far as whether it’s really a felony or not," he said. "Most likely a judge is going to find it’s not a big deal, but as a lawyer, if I’m representing one of these people, it’s worthwhile making the argument. The difference between a felony and a misdemeanor is extraordinary."

Julie DeVuono, 49, of Amityville, the owner and operator of Wild Child and a nurse practitioner; Marissa Urraro, 44, of Northport, a licensed practical nurse, and Brooke Hogan, 29, of Patchogue, a receptionist, each were charged with Class D felony forgery, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 7 years. DeVuono also was charged with a Class E felony of offering a false instrument for filing, with a maximum sentence of 4 years. A misdemeanor charge has a maximum penalty of 1 year.

The governor’s office, health department and Kaplan’s legislative director, Joseph Erdman, issued statements that the new legislation makes clear that forging COVID-19 cards is a felony.

DeVuono and Urraro could potentially face revocation of their nursing licenses. The state Department of Education, which handles nurse licenses, declined to confirm that they are licensed in New York but it said in a statement that, in general, nurses accused of professional misconduct could face a disciplinary process that may result in fines or revocation of licenses.

With AP

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

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.