NEED TO KNOW

  • A former New York pediatric nurse received a record-breaking fine for falsifying COVID vaccination documentation

  • Julie DeVuono of Amityville was issued a civil penalty of more than $500,000 — the largest ever from the New York State Department of Health

  • DeVuono allegedly used proceeds from the sale of the falsified records to pay the mortgage on her home

A former pediatric nurse practitioner must pay a hefty fine after being accused of operating a COVID vaccination fraud scheme at a clinic in New York.

On Thursday, July 9, 53-year-old Julie DeVuono of Amityville was issued a $544,000 civil penalty by the New York State Department of Health after she was found to have falsified vaccination records for 162 school-aged children, the agency said in a press release.

DeVuono’s penalty is the largest civil penalty fine levied in the agency’s 125-year history.

“Vaccines are the best protection against serious preventable diseases, and the New York State Department of Health has zero tolerance for those that misrepresent or falsify vaccination records as these acts put lives in jeopardy,” State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. 

“Make no mistake, the Department will investigate and hold those accountable who so brazenly undermine our public health system and endanger the health and safety of our communities,” he added.

The Department of Health’s Bureau of Investigations determined that DeVuono submitted hundreds of pediatric vaccination records for vaccines that were never actually administered. Along with COVID-19 vaccines, DeVuono also fraudulently created records for several common childhood vaccines, including those that prevent chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, and polio.

DeVuono was sentenced in 2024 after pleading guilty to charges of money laundering, forgery and offering a false instrument for filing in September 2023. Prosecutors alleged that she forged COVID-19 vaccination record cards and laundered the proceeds of those sales. She was also accused of giving opioid prescriptions to individuals who were not her patients, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office previously said.

In addition to the civil penalty, she was required to surrender her nursing license and is currently serving a five year probation sentence, per the release. She was also required to forfeit $1.2 million in proceeds from the scheme.

Though the scope of her scheme stretched as far as New York City and the Capital District, the majority of her false vaccination records were created for kids from Long Island and the Hudson Valley.

Families of affected children were contacted and required to provide proof of immunization before the minors could return to school. Additionally, the health care provider could not be listed as DeVuono.

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As a result of both investigations and DeVuono’s own admissions, her fraudulent activity occurred from approximately June 15, 2021, to January 27, 2022, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said.

She illegally charged patients between $220 and $350 for a COVID-19 vaccine record card and entering the fraudulent information into the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS), while the funds were used for personal expenses such as paying off the mortgage on her Amityville home, per the district attorney’s office.

PEOPLE reached out to attorneys for DeVuono, but did not immediately receive a response.

Read the original article on People