FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Jim Rybicki
Public Information Officer
Phone: (703) 842-4050 Fax: (703) 549-5202
E-Mail: usavae.press@usdoj.gov
Website: www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae

HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR IDENTITY THEFT AND CREDIT CARD FRAUD

(Alexandria, VA ) Constance Occident, 46, of Olney, Maryland, was sentenced today by the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, conspiracy to disclose individually identifiable health care information, and aggravated identity theft. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement.

Occident was sentenced to four years imprisonment, restitution of $244,370, and five years of supervised release. On April 14, 2006, Judge Lee sentenced Occident’s co-defendant, Beurn Daphne Ferdinand, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, to 71 months imprisonment, restitution of $244,370 and five years of supervised release.

According to papers filed in court, from February 2004 through June 2005, Occident was a Care Team Specialist in the Intermediate Care Unit at INOVA Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. She took the individually identifiable personal information, including Social Security numbers, of approximately 100 patients and employees at the hospital. Occident provided the information to Ferdinand who opened fraudulent credit card accounts, and the two defendants then incurred charges on those accounts totaling $244,370. Before Occident’s and Ferdinand’s arrests in July 2005, they had stolen and used the information of 44 patients and seven nurses at the hospital. Many of the patients were older than 65 and several are now deceased. Occident admitted at her trial on April 19, 2006 that she and Ferdinand had targeted the information of older patients.

The case was investigated by the Alexandria City Police and the United States Secret Service, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy D. Belevetz and Jack Hanly.