Nassau Nurse Charged In COVID-19 Vaccination Card Scheme: DOJ

LONG BEACH, NY — A nurse from Long Beach has been charged in connection with a COVID-19 scheme, authorities said.

Steven Rodriguez, who works at a clinic in Hempstead, was named in an unsealed indictment on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn.

He faces with one count of conspiring to defraud the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and one count of conspiring to commit forgery in connection with the distribution and sale of fake COVID-19 cards, the Department of Justice said in a release.

Also named in the indictment was Jia Liu of Brooklyn, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

"The COVID-19 vaccination card fraud scheme allegedly perpetrated by Liu and Rodriguez resulted in more than 300 stolen or false vaccination cards circulating throughout the
community, and in the destruction of multiple doses of a vaccine intended to protect people from the most severe effects of the virus," FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement. "Schemers who defraud the government in any way — and profit from pocketing the funds — will continue to be held accountable."

The indictment claims that from at least March 2021 to February 2022, Rodriguez and Liu conspired to steal and forge COVID-19 vaccination cards to falsely record people as immunized with vaccines although, in reality, they had not been immunized.

Liu purchased blank COVID-19 vaccination cards from Rodriguez, and then forged and distributed them to buyers and other co-conspirators for a profit, according to the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District.

If convicted, the defendants could face up to 10 years in prison, the Department of Justice said.

Separately, Liu was charged in October 2021 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.