Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a mother and her two daughters were charged for providing fraudulent COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards to maintain and obtain employment at a Croton-on-Hudson nursing home.
Poughkeepsie residents Antoinette Clarke, 48, Dzjara Clarke, 27, and Jajvia Clarke, 22, were each arraigned on January 31, 2022, in Cortlandt Town Court with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, a felony. The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and members of the New York State Department of Health’s Vaccination Complaint Investigations Team made the arrests following a collaborative investigation.
As alleged in the felony complaint, Antoinette Clarke, a nurse employed at the nursing home, and Dzjara Clarke and Jajvia Clarke, applicants for nursing assistant positions, each submitted a copy of a forged COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card to the facility. In New York State, healthcare workers must be vaccinated as a condition of employment.
“People who create fraudulent vaccination cards and pretend to be vaccinated to enter workplaces, businesses or facilities, particularly ones with vulnerable populations, are putting others at increased risk of the serious effects of COVID-19,” DA Rocah said. “Making, possessing, purchasing or selling fraudulent COVID-19 Vaccinations Record Cards is a crime and those with knowledge of anyone breaking the law are encouraged to contact my office at (914) 995-TIPS.”
“Vaccination fraud is a serious crime. It creates a threat to public health and undermines the safety of our healthcare professionals who are working around the clock to get us through the pandemic,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “For those who choose to flout the law and endanger their patients and others around them, you will be held accountable. I thank our partners at the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for their work and the strong message we are sending together.”
The defendants are scheduled to appear again in Cortlandt Town Court on March 14, 2022.
The case is being prosecuted by the Trials and Investigations Division’s Economic Crimes Bureau. If anyone has information regarding the purchase, possession, or sale of fake or forged vaccination cards, please call the District Attorney’s Office at (914) 995-TIPS.
New Yorkers can also report vaccine-related fraud to the New York State Department of Health by calling 833-VAX-SCAM (833-829-7226) or emailing STOPVAXFRAUD@health.ny.gov.
The charges against the defendants are merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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