A federal grand jury in Columbia has indicted a nurse at a South Carolina rehabilitation clinic for allegedly fraudulent COVID-19 vaccine cards.

According to a press statement from the US Attorney’s Office in South Carolina, Tammy McDonald, 53, reportedly “personally filled out immunization cards” for clients she knew had not received a COVID-19 vaccine between June 20 and July 28.

She was accused with two charges of making a forged COVID-19 immunization record card, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. She was also charged with lying to federal authorities, a crime for which she may face a five-year jail in prison.

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According to authorities, McDonald’s arrest is the first time such charges have been brought against a South Carolina resident. The indictment did not name the recipients of the fraudulent vaccine cards or the nursing and rehabilitation center where McDonald worked as the director of nursing services.

McDonald was interviewed on Oct. 22 by federal officials from the FBI and the US Department of Health and Human Services in connection with the alleged scam, according to prosecutors.

McDonald allegedly lied to federal officials about not having access to COVID-19 vaccination record cards and that she never produced a false or inaccurate vaccine card, prosecutors said.

“Although the indictment speaks for itself, creating fraudulent or fake vaccine cards for those who have not been vaccinated poses a direct threat to the health of the people of South Carolina,” Acting U.S. Attorney M. Rhett DeHart said in the release.

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