MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A former Long Island high school teacher accused of injecting a teen with a COVID-19 vaccine at her home without his parents’ knowledge has been sentenced to community service and probation.
On Friday, 55-year-old Laura Parker Russo pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of attempting the unauthorized practice of medicine on Friday. She also pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.
Russo was arrested at the beginning of January. Authorities accused her of giving the 17-year-old, the son of someone she knew, a vaccine dose.
Prosecutors had initially charged her with the unauthorized practice of profession, a felony with a penalty of up to four years in prison.