UF: Shands patients could be victims of ID theft.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida has notified almost 15,000 patients of a medical clinic that they may have fallen victim to identity theft.

Letters were sent Tuesday to 14,339 patients of UF & Shands Family Medicine at Main following the arrest of a man who once worked at the clinic.

The Gainesville Sun (http://bit.ly/12kBv0m) reports 25-year-old Arthur Thomas was arrested Tuesday following an investigation that began in October.

A Jacksonville sheriff’s office reports says Thomas was stopped for speeding and officers found a duffel bag with about 1,600 personal identities on a computer-generated appointment information sheet. Officials allege that he acquired insurance information from patients and may have shared it with a third party.

The university says patients at the practice between March 2009 and October 2012 may be a victim.

(original source)

Jacksonville man sentenced to 10 years in prison for ID theft that allowed access to military bases.

A Jacksonville man who illegally accessed key facilities for years and whose true identity is still not entirely clear to federal authorities has been sentenced to a decade behind bars following his conviction of identity theft.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the man had been living under the identity of someone else for about 22 years. During that time, using bogus government identification, he had access to at least five ships at Mayport Naval Station and secure areas at JaxPort, including Blount Island Marine Terminal.

He is identified in court documents as John Doe, aka “Leroy Mayers,” “Leroy Meyers” and “L.T.H.”

The man used another living person’s Social Security number to get at least 23 government-issued forms of identification, including a passport, two Mayport Military Contractor ID cards, three Florida ID cards and six replacement Social Security cards.

The man, who was indicted in October 2011, was not charged with a violent crime or terrorism offense. A federal jury convicted him May 24 of seven counts of aggravated identify theft, six counts of falsely representing a Social Security number and one count of passport fraud, according to court documents.

Prior to his sentencing Monday, prosecutors submitted documents to the federal court that stated, “John Doe has expressed no remorse for his actions and continued to perpetrate the fraud through his perjurious testimony at trial.”

During one pre-trial court appearance the man, who according to court documents is 44 years old, said he lived on Waxwing Avenue in Jacksonville.

“As of yet, law enforcement has not affirmatively identified John Doe,” said a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Bill Austin, public affairs officer at Mayport, said John Doe worked on the base in 2010 in the shipyards. During his employment, Austin said, the man provided a driver’s license and passport to officials.

Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the United States and has been since the mid-1990s, according to federal prosecutors.

(original article)

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