A former Chilton Medical Center employee was charge and sentenced]for stealing hardware that contained electronic protected health information(ePHI) from the medical center.
The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office was contacted in November 2017 by Chilton Medical Center about the theft of computer equipment by Sergui Jitcu. The Prosecutor’s Office was told that a resident of Wisconsin had purchased a hard drive form eBay and discovered the ePHI of Chilton Medical Center patients when he received it.
After this discovery, an investigation was conducted resulting in a search warrant for Jitcu’s residence and motor vehicles. Investigators seized various computer equipment and other items that belonged to Chilton Medical Center. Additionally, a subsequent investigation revealed that at least one hard drive sold on eBay contained patient information.
Chilton Medical Center sent notifications in December 2017 to patients to advise them of the incident.
In September 2018, Jitcu pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree, computer criminal activity and one count of third-degree theft. Now, he has been sentenced to five years of non-custodial probation as long as he makes restitution by paying monthly to Chilton Medical Center. The total amount he will have to pay is $64,250.00.
In addition to paying that amount, he will likely have a felony on his record. Potentially, this could also result in a loss of wages over the course of his lifetime.
This is a great example of why crime doesn’t pay, as the old adage goes.
To learn more about what constitutes ePHI and how to protect your organization from HIPAA breaches, join HIPAAgps today.
[1] http://wrnjradio.com/news/2018/man-sentenced-in-chilton-medical-center-computer-theft-case/[
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