Here we go again: a cellphone being used to steal patient info. Dana Treen reports:
Names and Social Security numbers of 261 people were illegally photographed at a Shands Jacksonville clinic then transmitted to another person, according to an arrest report in the case.
Daremia Nikeka Crews, 24, of the 5300 block of Saginaw Avenue was charged Wednesday with fraudulent use of personal identification information after her cell phone was linked to photos of computer screens that displayed the names. The photos were taken May 7 to June 19, according to the arrest report.
The names were on lists at the Brentwood Primary Care Clinic on Village Center Drive, a medical care facility operated by Shands in Jacksonville’s Brentwood neighborhood. The phone was discovered during an identity theft investigation opened in October by the State Attorney’s Office, U.S. Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service.
Included in messages on the phone were instructions to “get closer” while taking pictures. The motive was unclear.
Crews was on an internship at the clinic as a student of the United Education Institute and was not involved in patient care, according to the hospital. She is no longer working there, the hospital said.
Spokeswoman Jackie Bernard of the State Attorney’s Office said the case is still under investigation and would not say if there were other arrests.
Source: Jacksonville.com.
The motive is “unclear?” Seriously? With the IRS and Secret Service involved in opening the investigation? How many cases of tax refund fraud have we seen involving patient information in Florida? Too many.