2 Accused of Stealing Hospital Patient Records for Phony Tax Returns

A pair of accused identity thieves hit their victims when they were the most vulnerable – while hospitalized – and used the information to scam the federal government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in phony tax refunds, according to a federal indictment.

The records were stolen from Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and DMC Harper University Hospital, where one of the defendants worked, according to the indictment, which was unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said two defendants, who lived together in Farmington Hills, stole the identity and filed false tax returns in the names of at least 305 patients, defrauding the government of nearly $500,000, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Charged were former Farmington Hills resident Markitta Washington, 29, now of Hampton, GA, and Martez Lear, 29, of Farmington Hills, who is currently serving time in prison for gun-related crimes.

Authorities discovered personal information belonging to about 1,400 people when they executed a search warrant at the home the two shared in January. Among the items seized were “stacks of hospital patient records,” bank statements, credit cards and hand-written notes that included patients’ Social Security numbers. Counterfeit and re-encoded credit and gift card were also seized as evidence against the pair.

The phony tax returns were filed for tax years 2011 and 2012, and most of the refunds were sent using prepaid debit cards recovered in the defendants’ home, according to the indictment.

“Criminals should know that while technology has made it easier than ever for them to commit identity fraud, technology is also making it easier for law enforcement to catch them,” McQuade said. “We are making enforcement of identity theft a high priority because this crime has become so pervasive and can be so damaging to victims.”

The two hospitals have notified the individual victims. Patients at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital should call (313) 874-9561 with questions, and patients at DMC Harper University Hospital should call (313) 966-8818.