FLORAL PARK, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- A Long Island educator was indicted on charges she allegedly submitted a forged COVID-19 vaccination card to the high school where she worked in a bid to skirt the school district’s coronavirus testing rules, the Nassau County D.A. said Wednesday.
Tricia Manno, 47, was arraigned Wednesday on a number of charges, including two felonies—criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree.
She pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on May 24. If convicted, she faces a maximum of two and one-third to seven years in prison.
Prosecutors allege Manno submitted a digital copy of a vaccination card to Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park on Sept. 21, 2021.
District staff are required to provide vaccination proof if they want to avoid weekly coronavirus testing.
The digital copy of the card had several discrepancies and appeared to be forged, prosecutors allege.
In a statement, Nassau County D.A. Anne Donnelly said the vaccine card submitted by Manno had “obvious forgeries.”
District employees confronted Manno about the card and asked her to submit the original, according to the D.A.
Manno told them her original card was lost and claimed she was vaccinated at the Northport VA Medical Center, prosecutors said.
Manno then went to the medical center on Sept. 27 to get a replacement card, allegedly showing a staff member there a digital image of the forged card she claimed she’d lost.
A staff member issued Manno a replacement card, prosecutors said, adding that the medical center has no record of administering the vaccine to her.
Manno then allegedly met with members of the school district and submitted the replacement vaccination card from the VA.
“Manno doubled-down on the fraud by allegedly illegally obtaining a replacement card at the Northport VA Medical Center where she claimed to have been vaccinated, showing staff a digital fake as her proof,” Donnelly said in a statement. “Submitting fraudulent documents is a crime, and in this case, one that put the health and safety of students and staff at risk.”
Sewanhaka School District superintendent James Grossane said in a statement that officials have been cooperating with the D.A.
“The district has been, and will continue to, fully cooperate with the Office of the Nassau County District Attorney in their investigation. However, due to privacy restraints the district is unable to comment on matters of personnel,” Grossane said.
The charges against Manno were filed days after several dozen public school teachers in New York City were placed on unpaid leave for allegedly submitting fraudulent proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The United Federation of Teachers is fighting the disciplinary action against those teachers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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