Account
NY Couple Arrested for Allegedly Attending Bills Playoff Game With Fake Vaccine Cards
January 27, 2022
Amber and Michael Naab have been arrested and charged with a count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree each after allegedly attending the Buffalo Bills' 47-17 Wild Card Round win over the New England Patriots with fake vaccination cards, per Jordan Mendoza of USA Today.
Per that report, the couple "allegedly got a blank Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine card, and then filled in their name, date of birth, a fake Pfizer lot number and put down they were vaccinated at a CVS store."
The charge is considered a class D felony, carrying a maximum seven-year sentence, though Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said he likely wouldn't send the pair to prison.
He did charge them at the request of the Bills, however.
"I readily admit this is not the crime of the century," he told reporters. "I hate to be the guy that says, 'I need to send a message.' I don't like being that guy, but you can't do this. There's a law, we got laws on the books."
"It's a slap in the face to the 70,000 others who did the right thing," Flynn added.
The Bills require all fans in attendance to be fully vaccinated, and the state of New York made it a crime to possess a fake vaccination card in December.
Amber Naab, 34, and Michael Naab, 37, of West Seneca, New York, had reportedly posted on social media in the past that they had attended games with fake vaccination cards, alerting the team to the possibility that they were attending the playoff game using fake cards. Per Aaron Besecker of the Buffalo News, the team was also tipped off to the possibility of the fake vaccination cards.
Team officials and members of the Erie County Sheriff's Office questioned them during the third quarter of the game before the couple was kicked out of the stadium and the Bills opted to press charges.
The couple is due back in court on Feb. 22.