Back in April 2012, there was a large insider breach involving South Carolina’s Dept. of Health and Human Services Medicaid database.
Today, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that the employee and a second person have been indicted:
Christopher R. Lykes, Jr. (DOB 06/02/1975, Swansea, SC) was indicted for four (4) counts of willful examination of private records by a public official, public member, or public employee, under S.C. Code Section 8-13-725(B), and one (1) count of criminal conspiracy. The incidents happened during early 2012. Both offenses are felonies, punishable by up to five (5) years in prison per count, or twenty-five (25) years total, or five-thousand dollars ($5,000.00) per count, or twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) total, or both.
Toshia Yvette Latimer-Addison (DOB 12/18/1967, Lexington, SC) was indicted for one (1) count of criminal conspiracy. The offense is a felony, punishable by up to five (5) years in prison, or five-thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
The indictments allege Lykes, while a public employee of SCDHHS, willfully examined, or aided and abetted in the willful examination of, confidential records for an improper or unlawful purpose. Latimer-Addison is accused of conspiring with Lykes in that effort.
The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
So far, there’s been no public statement as to whether any of the data were misused, but from this press release, it sounds like the data never got to be misused as there are no charges of ID theft or fraudulent use. If so, that would be welcome news.
According to HHS’s breach tool, the government’s investigation of this breach is still open.