Arrest in theft of records | SFC | 5.15.05
South Bay patients’ medical data stolen
A former branch manager at a San Jose medical group has been charged with stealing the confidential records of nearly 185,000 patients — mostly South Bay residents, authorities reported.
The San Jose incident is one of the nation’s largest cases of personal data theft, even bigger than the highly publicized case of ChoicePoint, in which the personal information of 145,000 people was sold to an identity theft ring posing as a legitimate business in September 2004.
The U.S. attorney’s office charged Joseph Nathaniel Harris on Friday with stealing two computers and a compact disc that contained patient records from the San Jose Medical Group on March 28, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
The FBI reported in court documents that the disc with patient information was recovered after Harris’ arrest. In an interview with FBI agents, Harris said he didn’t know the patient information was contained on the stolen CD until he saw media accounts of the theft, according to court records.…
The missing disc contained a wealth of patient data, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, insurance data, bill records and detailed medical histories.
According to court records, Harris is suspected of selling the stolen computer equipment on the Internet through Craigslist just after the medical office burglary.…
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