#NYC couple forged positive COVID-19 results to delay husband’s trial

A Manhattan couple is accused of forging positive COVID-19 results to delay the husband’s Long Island criminal trial — hitting up out-of-state hotels and casinos during the court-mandated pause, prosecutors announced Monday.

Devon Lewis, 35, was a day away from closing arguments in his trial stemming from drug charges when he told the court on Sept. 23 that his wife, 36-year-old Blair McDermott, had tested positive for the virus, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

Lewis backed up his claim by providing the court that day with a photograph of a document showing her positive COVID-19 test, prosecutors said.

The court then agreed to suspend the trial until McDermott tested negative.

On Oct. 14, prosecutors said Lewis, through his lawyer, submitted another photographed document from McDermott showing she tested positive for the illness a second time on Oct. 8.

But it was later determined that McDermott allegedly forged both documents after actually testing negative.

“It is reprehensible that someone would claim to have this deadly virus, which has taken so much from so many people, to try to avoid the consequences of their own criminal actions,” Suffolk County District Attorney Sini said in a statement.

Investigators determined the couple visited New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland at a time they said they were quarantining in their Manhattan pad.

They frequented numerous hotels and casinos in their travels, prosecutors said.

After Lewis’s trial resumed on Nov. 12, he was convicted on 12 felony narcotics charges, officials said.

On Monday, he was indicted for the second case on several charges, including forgery and criminal contempt, and remanded without bail.

His wife was indicted on Dec. 23 and released on her own recognizance.