Palm Beach County Health Department Employee Arrested For Stealing Patient Information

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce that Salita St. Simon, 30, of Belle Glade, was arrested today on a charge of identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(a)(7). If convicted, St. Simon faces up to five years imprisonment and three years of supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint and information provided in Court, St. Simon was a senior clerk at the Palm Beach County Health Department (PBCHD) until earlier today. For approximately the last year, St. Simon obtained patient identification information, including patient names and social security numbers, from the PBCHD’s computer system and provided that information to her accomplices. These accomplices, in turn, used the information to file fraudulent tax returns seeking the patients’ refunds. Over the last year, St. Simon stole more than 2,800 patients’ information in this way.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and thanked the PBCHD for its substantial assistance in investigating this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Osborne.

A complaint is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.