The Great NYC School Scam: Over 80 teachers deny buying FAKE vaccine cards through $1.5M scheme
A total of 82 New York City teachers have been accused of buying fake vaccine cards from Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville that raked in $1.5 million in the alleged scheme. In January 2022, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office busted and alleged that two nurses of the center sold these fake vaccination cards to hundreds of customers including those 82 teachers.
Along with 49-year-old Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare, Marissa Urraro, 44, a licensed practical nurse at the center, was also a part of this scam. The nurses allegedly charged adults $220 for each dose marked on the card, making $440 for both doses, and $85 for children. Both have pleaded not guilty to the alleged illegal activity.
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The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office had stated, "During a court-authorized search of DeVuono’s home, law enforcement officers seized approximately $900,000 in US currency along with a ledger documenting profits in excess of $1.5 million from the alleged illegal activity for the time period of November 2021 to January 2022. These individuals allegedly used their positions as licensed healthcare professionals to engage in criminal conduct for their financial benefit."
Those 82 teachers, however, had been suspended without pay on April 25 after the city Department of Education found that they had obtained vaccine cards from Wild Child.
Their union, the UFT, has now filed a lawsuit that intends to sue the city's Department of Education over the suspensions. The department referred its statement to the city Law Department, which called the teacher's lawsuit baseless. In fact, the teachers have been banned from their schools. According to reports, the city required teachers and other city employees to get fully vaccinated to keep their jobs unless granted a medical or religious exemption. Close to 1,000 DOE employees have been fired for failure to comply.
As per a report in New York Post, the teachers admit to having paid a whopping amount but claim that it was for a detox treatment to offset any major reaction to the vaccine. “We paid for the detox protocol. We did not pay for the vaccination itself or the card,” said an elementary teacher who works with students with disabilities. She feared the vaccine’s effect on her health because of an underlying autoimmune disorder. “It helped detox my body from all the unnecessary stuff in that shot," she further added. There has been no update on what the detox consisted of but the teachers claim it just involved pills. “She just told me that it would help detox my body and I trusted her,” said another, referring to DeVuono, who also treated her six-year-old son for years.
Betsy Combier, a paralegal helping defend the teachers, argued, “No facts available show fraud on their part.” She bashed the DOE for exiling the educators without a hearing. “This is a blatant example of the department’s pattern and practice to find guilt first, and innocence second,” she said.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Hammond, the spokesperson for The New York State Department of Health's Vaccination, said in a statement, "The New York State Department of Health's Vaccination Complaint Investigations Team continues to work closely with the Suffolk County DA's Office and other law enforcement to actively investigate and prosecute to the full extent of the law anyone who created, distributed, purchased, or used fraudulent proof of Covid-19 vaccination from Wild Child Pediatrics."