Nurse Julie DeVuono is accused of raking in a whopping $1.5 million — in just three months — by selling fake COVID vaccination cards, and her cop-hubby is being investigated to see if he was part of the shameful scam.
DeVuono, 49, owner of Long Island’s Wild Child Pediatrics, is charged with forgery and filing false information with the state and her employee Marissa Urraro, 44, also a practical nurse, faces a forgery rap.
They pleaded not guilty and were released without bail late last month.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison blasted the cash-spinning scam saying: “As nurses, these two individuals should understand the importance of legitimate vaccination cards as we all work together to protect public health.”
The scheme was discovered after local businesses became suspicious because of unusually large numbers of people flocking to the clinic.
Undercover detectives went in and bought fake COVID vaccination cards “on one or more occasions,” say prosecutors.
They say DeVuono was getting $220 per adult and $85 per child for vaccination cards and to send false shot information to the New York State Immunization Information System.
Meanwhile, they weren’t giving shots with the vaccines and syringes sent by the government, say prosecutors.
Investigators say a ledger found inside DeVuono’s Amityville home showed the nurses collected $1.5 million in just three months.
Cops also found $900,000 in cash stuffed in NYPD helmet bags inside the house triggering an “internal probe” of DeVuono’s hubby, Derin, an NYPD officer working in Brooklyn’s 60th precinct.
Urraro’s lawyer Michael Alber describes her as “a respected licensed practical nurse” and says “there are defects in the investigation.”
Erin Bevilacqua of the local Park Avenue Grill called the fake COVID card scheme “frightening beyond words.”
“I’m grateful it’s been put to an end. Break laws, give fake vaccines — it’s very disheartening.”
