November 2, 2007
For more information contact:
Managing Asst. U.S. Attorney Dixie A. Morrow
(850) 444-4000
GREENWOOD, FLORIDA WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FRAUD AND AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT INVOLVING BAY MEDICAL CENTER PATIENTS
Panama City, Florida - United States Attorney Gregory R. Miller, Northern District of Florida, announced today that, Robin A. Hayes, 43, also known as “Robin A. Montgomery” and “Angela Porter,” entered a guilty plea to a three-count federal indictment before United States District Judge Richard Smoak.
Hayes admitted to stealing personal information from patient files while employed in the records department at Bay Medical Center in Panama City, Florida. She explained that she would take the identifying information, and conduct computerized online free annual credit reports to determine if the patient had a good credit score and open credit card accounts. Hayes would then add herself to open credit card accounts as a secondary user, and have credit cards delivered to various “drop” addresses she used throughout Northwest Florida. Hayes consented to a search of her vehicle, residence and electronic media stored there at her arrest on February 23, 2007. Law enforcement officers recovered numerous individuals’ personal identification information, records from Bay Medical Center, credit cards, gift cards, receipts, and merchandise. Her scheme was discovered when individuals reported calls from vendors about merchandise they had not purchased and about credit card charges to their accounts. Bay County Sheriff’s Officers’ review of one merchant’s surveillance video then identified Hayes as a suspect. Investigation revealed her employment at Bay Medical Center, where a number of the reported victims of identity theft had been treated.
United States Attorney Miller said, “The investigation and prosecution of identity theft are priorities of the Department of Justice and this District. I encourage citizens of Northwest Florida to do as individuals did in this case – to report suspicious activity to their creditors and to law enforcement agencies.”
Hayes is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Smoak on January 16, 2008 at 9:15 a.m. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on each of Counts One and Two, and a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years imprisonment, up to $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release on Count Three.
The case was the result of the cooperative law enforcement activities of the United States Secret Service and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tiffany H. Eggers.