Farmington Hills Couple Sentenced for Stealing Patients' Identities

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI – Two people who stole the identities of nearly 1,400 hospital patients in Metro Detroit and then filed nearly $500,000 in fraudulent tax returns have been sentenced to prison, federal prosecutors said.

Martez Lear, 30, of Farmington Hills, and Markitta Washington, 30, of Hampton, GA, and formerly of Farmington Hills were sentenced to 56 and 47 months in prison for their roles in the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

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• 2 Accused of Stealing Medical Records for Phony Tax Refunds

Each defendant was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Leitman to make restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $489,883.

The two were sentenced in December after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft and related charges in July. They were arrested in 2014 after a search warrant was served at the Farmington Hills residence they shared and authorities discovered personal information belonging to about 1,400 people.

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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.

“Identity theft is a contemptible modern-day menace,” Jarod Koopman, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation, said in a statement. “Law enforcement officers respond to it with every legal resource available. These sentences will serve as a stern warning to those who are considering similar conduct.”

This case was investigated by the Southeast Michigan Financial and Cyber Crimes Task Force, which is based at the Novi Police Department and includes U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS – Criminal Investigation agents, as well as state and local law enforcement officers from the West Bloomfield, Novi, Royal Oak, Southfield, and Troy Police Departments.

Hospitals have notified individual victims whose personal identifying information was compromised. Patients of the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital may call (313) 874-9561 with any questions. Patients of DMC Harper Hospital may call (313) 966-8818.