DENVER — A Parker man accused of selling hundreds of fake vaccination cards is among 21 people facing federal charges in a nationwide law enforcement effort to crack down on COVID-19 health care fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Charges have been filed against 21 defendants in nine federal districts across the country, the Justice Department said. Criminal charges have been brought against medical business owners and executives, physicians, marketers and vaccination card manufacturers.
“These cases allegedly resulted in over $149 million in COVID-19-related false billings to federal programs and theft from federally-funded pandemic assistance programs,” the DOJ said in a news release. “In connection with the enforcement action, the department seized over $8 million in cash and other fraud proceeds.”
Among the defendants charged is Robert Van Camp, 53, of Parker.
Van Camp has been charged in the Western District of Washington by criminal complaint with conspiracy to defraud the United States and trafficking in counterfeit goods in connection with an alleged scheme to produce and sell fake COVID-19 vaccination record cards, according to the DOJ.
“Van Camp allegedly obtained and then used a blank COVID-19 vaccination record card to forge hundreds of fake vaccination record cards, which he sold to buyers and distributors in at least a dozen states,” according to a summary of charges released by the DOJ.
The defendant allegedly told an undercover agent that he sold bogus cards to people that attended the Tokyo Olympics, including three Olympians and a coach. Van Camp has sold bogus cards in about a dozen states and internationally, according to the criminal complaint.
Van Camp allegedly made “thousands of dollars” from the illicit sales, selling bogus cards for up to $175, according to the news release.
“The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Unit and our partners are dedicated to rooting out schemes that have exploited the pandemic,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Today’s enforcement action reinforces our commitment to using all available tools to hold accountable medical professionals, corporate executives, and others who have placed greed above care during an unprecedented public health emergency.”
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