Six charged in local identity-theft ring, 1 pleads guilty

NORFOLK

Authorities say they stopped a local identity theft ring involving an emergency room clerk who stole patient data, a civic league official who is accused of using his neighbors’ personal information and two car salesmen accused of orchestrating the scam.

The FBI said six people have been charged, including one suspect arrested this week, in a scam that was stopped within weeks of its discovery. One of the six – the hospital clerk – has since pleaded guilty.

The scheme involved using personal information from unknowing individuals in order to obtain car loans from the Navy Federal Credit Union. The FBI said about $134,000 in loan checks were issued and the suspects are accused of obtained $61,000 in cash from some of the checks before they were arrested.

The hospital clerk was one of the first arrested, back in April.

Nichole Ray Easton, 23, of Virginia Beach, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Sept. 9 to one count of aggravated identity theft.

She worked as a registrar in the Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center’s emergency room and admitted in court that she stole patient addresses and other personal information that was used in the scheme.

Hospital records show that she accessed patient records frequently between October 2007 and April, according to a statement of facts filed in federal court and that she signed.

“On a number of occasions, however, she accessed the records without making any updates but to read information only as one would do when obtaining patient information,” the statement says.

Two patients’ identities were used to obtain two car loans – one for a $36,000 BMW and the other for a $25,000 Acura. But the FBI said the transactions were a sham and that the suspects pocketed the loan proceeds.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Easton said: “I don’t have anything to say.”

Last week, she admitted in federal court that she received $2,000 for her role in the scheme and that she participated at the request of her fiance.

The fiance, Massimiliano Dibernardo, and another suspect, Paul Stephen Mears, were charged last week in federal court with bank fraud.

Mears, who worked as a car salesman at an unidentified Virginia Beach dealership, was arrested Monday and was released on $5,000 bond. Dibernardo had not been arrested on the federal charge as of Tuesday afternoon.

Bon Secours spokeswoman Lynne Zultanky said Easton has not been employed there since April. A background check done before she was hired did not raise any red flags, she said.

“When we learned about this we contacted every patient, because we take our responsibility to secure patients’ privacy very seriously,” Zultanky said.

Patients who had their personal data stolen were contacted and offered free credit monitoring services, she said.

“To our knowledge there hasn’t been any impact on patient care,” she continued. “We sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been impacted.”

Three other suspects in the ring, including another car salesman, were charged in state court in Virginia Beach, but their identities could not be learned Tuesday. A Virginia Beach police spokeswoman said a computer that contains that information was not working.

One of the unidentified suspects belongs to a neighborhood association and is accused of stealing personal information from other association members in order to obtain car loans in their names, the FBI said in its affidavit.

The Navy Federal Credit Union became suspicious of the transactions and alerted police in March. The suspects were arrested on state charges before two loans checks, for $48,000 and $25,000, could be cashed.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com