Two now-former Department of Health employees have admitted in federal court that they illegally took private information on hundreds of patients, which was then used in a tax-return scheme.
The discovery and arrests of Shanterica Smith and Gerald Williams prompted the health department to send security-breach notices to roughly 2,000 patients in October.
Smith and Williams each pleaded guilty this month to a federal fraud charge, admitting they took names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of health department patients.
According to their plea agreements, the investigation into the tax scheme began in 2011, when an Orange County detective found a handwritten list of about 150 names and Social Security numbers.
A woman linked to the list told investigators it was used to commit tax fraud.
Agents discovered there were about 3,000 identity theft victims of the scheme, and about 2,300 of those were in the health department's record system, records show.
Smith and Williams each admitted they were paid to steal the private information and hand it off to other people.
