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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.
June 16, 2009
Former Hospital Employee Pleads Guilty in ID Theft Case
LOS ANGELES – A former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center employee pleaded guilty today to stealing patient information to fraudulently bill insurance companies and collect more than $354,000.
James Allen Wilson, 45, entered the plea before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Samuel Mayerson just as the second day of Wilson’s preliminary hearing was scheduled to resume, said Deputy District Attorney Wendy Derzaph of the Healthcare Fraud Division.
Wilson pleaded guilty to one count each of identity theft, insurance fraud and grand theft and two counts of failure to file income taxes in 2005 and 2007. He was immediately sentenced to four years, eight months in prison. Judge Mayerson also ordered him to pay $354,000 in restitution to LAUSD and $62,000 in back taxes and penalties to the state Franchise Tax Board.
When Wilson worked in the hospital’s billing department between 2003 and 2007, he allegedly stole the personal information of more than 1,000 patients. Of those, he used the personal information of 12 Los Angeles Unified School District employees. All 12 employees had filed workers’ compensation claims through the school district and all had been treated at the hospital.
Wilson was charged with using the personal information of 12 victims and fraudulently billing more than $1.3 million to third party insurance companies for medical treatment that was never provided. Derzaph said he collected $354,000 in the scam.
As part of today’s plea, Wilson agreed to repay all victims in all 52 counts for purposes of restitution, along with penalties and interest to the school district, which paid for treatment that employees never received. The remaining counts were dismissed.
The case was investigated by Craig Ratliff, senior investigator with the D.A.’s Bureau of Investigation.
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