Home Health & Hospice Week

Other cases cracking down on fake COVID cards include:

In Detroit: A registered nurse working for the Veterans Administration hospital, Bethann Kierczak, pleaded guilty to stealing COVID-19 vaccination record cards from the VA hospital — along with vaccine lot numbers necessary to make the cards appear legitimate — and then reselling those cards and information to individuals within the metro Detroit community for $150 to $200 each, the Department of Justice says. “The defendant abused her position of trust as a medical provider to line her own pockets and sell fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards,” U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison says in the release.

In Pennsylvania: Fraudsters don’t have to sell cards to get prosecuted. Amy B. Leister of Mifflintown was charged with possessing and making a fake COVID-19 vaccine card, the DOJ says in a release.

In Ohio: Tiffany Keller of Junction City admitted producing and selling more than 77 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards for $40 each, the DOJ says in a release. Keller advertised the cards on a blog. “Manufacturing and selling fake COVID-19 vaccination record cards can undermine critical public health measures and put the health of Americans at risk,” the HHS Office of Inspector General’s Robert DeConti says in the release.

In California: Two brothers were sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay $500 in restitution for selling stolen COVID cards for $50 each, the DOJ says in a release. Dino A. Rende and Francis J. Rende were investigated in Utah.

In Delaware: Paramedic David Hodges was sentenced to six months’ probation and ordered to pay a $1,300 fine after admitting to making and selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards for an undisclosed sum, according to press reports. Hodges both printed up fake cards and stole cards from his workplace, prosecutors said. Hodges would look up places near a buyer’s home to forge a more accurate vaccine batch number, the Associated Press reports.