Jay Weaver reports:
A husband-and-wife duo charged with running a racket to pilfer patient records from Jackson Memorial Hospital to sell to lawyers for injury claims tried to plead guilty Tuesday in Miami federal court.
But U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard said she couldn’t accept their pleas because she didn’t think the prescribed punishment fit their crime under their agreements with the U.S. attorney’s office.
Ruben E. Rodriguez, the leader, faces up to 12 years in prison. His wife, Maria Victoria Suarez, faces up to five years, under their plea agreements.
“These charges are much too serious — much too serious for our community,” Lenard said. “Violations of the law in the healthcare industry have become too much the norm. There are real victims here.”
Read more in the Miami Herald.