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Poughkeepsie residents Antoinette Clarke, age 48, Dzjara Clarke, age 27, and Jajvia Clarke, age 22, were arraigned on Monday, Jan. 31 in Cortlandt Town Court, where they were charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, for attempting to dupe a Croton-on-Hudson nursing home in Northern Westchester.
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said that 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.
Rocah noted that in New York, healthcare workers must be vaccinated to continue working amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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,” Rocah said in a statement announcing the charges.
“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.”
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 by both agencies.
“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," New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett stated.
"For those who choose to flout the law and endanger their patients and others around them, you will be held accountable.”
The three Clarkes are scheduled to return to Cortlandt Town Court on Monday, March 14.
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