Woman accused of forging COVID docs gets new trial date
A former immigration attorney accused of forging COVID documents to avoid appearing in person during a separate court case had a new trial date set.
Emily Cohen, 43, pleaded not guilty in March to three counts of attempting to influence a public servant and three counts of forgery.
Cohen had several trial dates in 2022 vacated, and online court records show she is now set for a five-day trial starting July 17. She also has a hearing on April 4 and a motions hearing on May 15.
Cohen remains out on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond.
Cohen was originally found guilty on 13 of 21 theft counts following a 2014 trial after prosecutors said she collected more than $41,000 in combined fees from seven immigrant families, then dropped out of contact without producing the visas and work permits she had promised her clients.
The Colorado Court of Appeals overturned the convictions in 2018, and Cohen accepted a new plea deal rather than go through with a retrial on eleven theft counts.
But while that case was pending, Cohen failed to appear in person for a pre-trial conference on Nov. 2, 2021, instead appearing virtually after filing a motion saying she had tested positive for the coronavirus in Iowa.
The judge in the case had issued a ruling ordering Cohen to appear in person unless she could produce a positive test result following at least one other instance in which she failed to appear for an in-person hearing while claiming she had COVID-19.
Prosecutors said Cohen had previously submitted letters from a University of Iowa clinic in July claiming she had COVID symptoms, and Cohen again produced a letter in November from a doctor saying she had tested positive.
But according to an arrest affidavit, prosecutors were skeptical about the timing of the doctor's notes, and began an investigation. A DA investigator found that the doctor cited in Cohen's most recent note denied ever writing Cohen such a letter.
The investigator obtained a waiver from Cohen to examine her medical record while Cohen was in jail in Iowa, where deputies also said she had tested negative for COVID-19.
According to the affidavit, Cohen did receive notes from doctors that coincided with documents she submitted to the courts. But investigators found the wording in the letters in Cohen’s medical file were different than those submitted to the court.
In one instance, the version in Cohen’s medical file stated “she is no longer infectious,” but in the one Cohen submitted to the court the note states “she is still infectious.”
The investigator wrote that, “Though Cohen did receive medical provider notes on both of these dates, it is clear that the notes Cohen submitted to the Court in support of her motions to quash warrants, had been altered from what the providers actually wrote.”