Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced on Wednesday, April 12, that Julie DeVuono, a 50-year-old pediatric nurse and owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare in Amityville, is facing over 30 counts in two different indictments. DeVuono has been charged with money laundering, providing fake COVID-19 vaccination cards, and creating false oxycodone prescriptions for people who were not her patients.
The DA alleges that DeVuono, along with her employees Brooke Hogan and Marissa Urraro, abused her position as a healthcare worker to sell fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and falsely enter information into the New York State Immunization Information System. The investigation into DeVuono's activities lasted from June 2021 to January 2022, during which she charged $220 in 2021 for false entries for adults and $350 for those adult entries and $85 for each child in 2022.
DeVuono reportedly laundered the money through several accounts before reinvesting the proceeds into her business. Court documents indicate that DeVuono received more than 2,700 doses of COVID-19 vaccines between June and August 2021, but undercover investigators allege that Urraro, DeVuono's nurse, did not administer the vaccine and threw it in the garbage.
In a separate indictment, DeVuono is charged with 20 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, for submitting fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions to local pharmacies in Suffolk County between February 2019 and February 2021. The DA claims that DeVuono knew that these prescriptions would be filed with the New York State Department of Health.
For her actions, DeVuono has been charged with second-degree forgery (six counts), first-degree offering a false instrument for filing (five counts), second-degree money laundering, fourth-degree money laundering, and fifth-degree conspiracy in the first indictment.
District Attorney Tierney stated that "The defendant's abuse of authority in pursuit of her own enrichment put people's health and safety at risk, and it will not be tolerated in Suffolk County." DeVuono is due back in court on Friday, May 19.