WILLIAMSPORT- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Amy B. Leister, age 55, of Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, was charged on May 18, 2022, by criminal Information with knowingly possessing and making a fake COVID-19 vaccine card.
According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, the information charges Leister with knowingly possessing and making an unauthorized COVID-19 vaccine card, specifically a fake COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card, purportedly issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control to record medical information about vaccines purportedly received, and bearing the insignia of the Center for Disease Control.
The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel is prosecuting the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 6 months’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
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