‘A couple from West Seneca, New York, has been charged with using falsified COVID-19 vaccination cards to get into the Jan. 15 Buffalo Bills playoff game.

Amber Naab, 37, and Michael Naab, 34, have been charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class D felony, according to prosecutors. They have been accused of using fake vaccine cards to enter the stadium for the Bills game against the New England Patriots.

The Naabs were removed from their seats in the third quarter by Erie County Sheriff’s deputies and Bills staff, District Attorney John Flynn said. The Naabs had been on the Bills’ and the Erie County Health Department’s “radar,” Flynn said.

“There was prior social media chatter out there,” he said.

The Bills received a tip about the couple, who were questioned and kicked out of the stadium, he said. The team contacted the Sheriff’s Office and said they wanted the couple prosecuted, Flynn said.

This is the first case prosecuted in Erie County under the new state law that makes a vaccination card a “written instrument,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The Naabs were arraigned Tuesday night in Orchard Park Town Court and were released on their own recognizance by Town Justice Jorge S. DeRosas. The judge did not have the ability to set bail in the case. Both are due back in court on Feb. 22.

Flynn said he’s not taking a political stance on the issue of vaccinations, but said there is a law on the books and he has evidence the couple violated the law.
“A message needs to be sent that this is unacceptable,” Flynn said, “and you’re putting other people in danger.”


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