Napa doctor admits to selling fake COVID vaccine cards, immunization pills
North Bay woman accused of fake COVID immunizations, vaccination cards faces federal charges
A North Bay woman is in custody and faces federal charges for accusations she faked COVID vaccinations and vaccine cards. The state-licensed naturopath works out of her home in Napa, which was raided by the FBI on Wednesday. Neighbors are in disbelief it happened here.
NAPA, Calif. - A naturopathic doctor in the North Bay pleaded guilty on Wednesday for selling fake COVID vaccination cards and homeoprophylaxis immunization pills, the Department of Justice said.
Federal investigators said Juli Mazi, 41, falsified vaccination cards to make it appear that customers had received the Moderna vaccine.
"Juli Mazi has admitted that she engaged in a scheme to sell fake health care records to her customers," said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds. "Mazi made profits by selling false immunization cards she knew would be used to mislead schools into believing students had been immunized from childhood illnesses as required by law. Mazi also sold fake COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards suggesting she administered the Moderna vaccine to her customers when, in fact, she had not."
According to court documents, the Department of Health and Human Services Office received a tip in April 2021 that Mazi was selling homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets which she claimed would provide lifelong protection from COVID-19.
Mazi also provided fake CDC COVID-19 vaccination record cards with instructions on how to complete the cards to make them falsely appear to be records of the Moderna vaccine, authorities said.
Federal investigators learned that Mazi had sold fake vaccination cards to more than 200 people.
Mazi pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements related to health care matters.
She is expected to be sentenced in July 2022.
Mazi faces a maximum statutory prison sentence of 20 years for the wire fraud charge and 5 years for the false statements charge.