Beach woman sentenced for stealing hospital patients' information

NORFOLK

A Virginia Beach woman was sentenced to a year and one day in prison today for stealing the personal information of hospital patients.

Nichole Easton, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in September to aggravated identity theft, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Easton had worked as a patient registrar at Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, according to the release, which cites court documents.

The theft of the information from the hospital’s computer system began in Oct. 2007 and continued into early 2008, the release says.

The information was used by other people to apply for loans from Navy Federal Credit Union, according to the release.

The loans were approved in the patients’ names and the loan checks were stolen from the mail, the release says.

Two additional fraudulent loans were obtained using stolen information from another source, according to the release.

All together, the fraud totaled more than $130,000, the release said. 

Several other people were charged in connection with the case, including Easton’s fiancé, the release says.