A former New York pediatric nurse who built a $1.5 million empire selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards has been hit with a historic $544,000 civil penalty by New York state authorities.
Julie DeVuono, 53, the former owner of Wild Child Pediatric Center in Amityville, received the massive fine from the New York State Department of Health on Thursday. The penalty follows her 2023 guilty plea to felony forgery and money laundering, marking the conclusion of a large-scale fraud operation.
State officials confirmed the financial penalty represents a historic milestone for New York’s enforcement agencies.
“This is the largest civil penalty imposed for vaccination fraud in the Department of Health’s 125-year history,” state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “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.”
The scheme operated between November 2019 and January 2022, spanning the height of the global pandemic. DeVuono fabricated vaccination records for 162 school-aged children to help parents bypass immunization requirements.
The mechanics of the fraud relied on exploiting a federal distribution system. DeVuono received 3,174 vaccine doses free of charge through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Instead of administering the medicine, she threw the doses into the trash.
DeVuono then charged clients between $220 and $350 for adults and $85 for children to log those discarded doses as successfully administered shots on official cards. Investigators later discovered that DeVuono laundered $236,980 of the illicit profits to pay off the mortgage on the home she shared with her husband, a New York City police officer.
The operation collapsed in January 2022 when law enforcement raided the clinic, seizing cash and ledgers detailing the transactions. The prosecution’s case solidified after two co-defendants—licensed practical nurse Marissa Urraro and receptionist Brooke Hogan—agreed to cooperate and testify against their former boss.
Following her 2023 guilty plea, DeVuono avoided prison time. Her criminal sentence required her to complete 840 hours of community service, serve five years of probation, and forfeit $1.2 million in assets before the state leveled this week’s additional civil fine.
READ: Feds Catch ‘First Class’ Fraud: Three Michigan Tax Preparers Indicted In Fake Refund Scheme
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