Crime & Safety
Mother, 2 Daughters Use Fake COVID Vax Cards At Nursing Home: DA
Authorities said the mother works for a Hudson Valley nursing home and the daughters were applying for jobs.
CORTLANDT, NY — A mother and her two daughters were accused of using fake COVID-19 vaccination cards to stay and become employed at a Croton-on-Hudson nursing home.
Poughkeepsie resident Antoinette Clarke, 48, Dzjara Clarke, 27, and Jajvia Clarke, 22, were each arraigned Monday in Cortlandt Town Court and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, according to Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah.
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.
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Prosecutors said Antoinette Clarke, a nurse employed at the nursing home, and Dzjara Clarke and Jajvia Clarke, who were applying for nursing assistant positions, each submitted a copy of a forged COVID-19 vaccination record card to the facility. In New York, healthcare workers must be vaccinated as a condition of employment.
Rocah said making, possessing, purchasing or selling fake COVID-19 vaccination records is a crime.
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"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," she said.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said 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," she said.
The three women are scheduled to appear again in Cortlandt Town Court March 14.
Anyone with information about someone breaking the law by making, selling, buying or having a fake vaccination card should call Rocah'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.
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