By Latrishka Thomas
This Christmas may be devoid of festive cheer for one woman who has been ordered to pay thousands of dollars to the state after she was convicted of forging Covid-19 vaccination cards.
Jahmesha Millwood of Bolans, who orchestrated an elaborate vaccination card fraud scheme during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been fined $55,000, with nearly half of that sum due by the end of December.
The former nurse was charged with 21 counts of forgery and one count of larceny of blank vaccination cards back in 2021. She initially denied the allegations before Justice Tunde Bakre in March this year, but changed course during last month’s court appearance and entered guilty pleas to all charges.
The fraud came to light after an Information Technology issue on November 13, 2021 led to a new protocol that required nurses to hold vaccination cards for later digital processing. Millwood, acting as a screening nurse, exploited this temporary disruption of the system.
The scheme unravelled when residents began arriving at the vaccination centre with completed cards just days after the IT system outage.
The suspicious timing and familiar signatures prompted an internal investigation that eventually involved police and a handwriting expert.
Millwood, who was 29 at the time, had no authority to sign vaccination cards as this right was reserved exclusively for nurses who had administered the shots.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that she charged at least $1,000 for each card.
Her lawyer, Lawrence Daniels, told the court last week that she was remorseful for her actions and claimed that Millwood’s “hopes, dreams and future prospects have been shattered”.
Millwood, no longer a nurse but currently employed, received her sentence yesterday.
Justice Bakre fined her $50,000 for forging the cards and $5,000 for larceny of the blank documents. She has until the end of December to pay $25,000 and must then pay the balance in instalments of $5,000 to the state every month. Failure to pay will result in a one-year prison sentence.
