Washington, D.C. Hospital Worker Pleads Guilty To Identity Theft

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Detrius Elliott, 43, of Clinton, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to identity theft for stealing at least 78 identities belonging to financial guarantors of patients at a Washington, D.C. hospital, as part of a large identity theft ring operating in the area.

            Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kathy A. Michalko, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

            In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Elliott admitted to stealing names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers from the billing database of the Washington hospital where she worked as a credit and collections representative.  Elliott provided the identities to co-conspirator Jenaro Blalock and another member of the identity theft ring, who used the identities to obtain fraudulent driver’s licenses and open instant lines of credit and rent vehicles under the victims’ names.  The victims whose identities were stolen from the hospital database suffered approximately $102,000 in losses.

            Elliott is the tenth member of the identity theft ring to plead guilty.  Co-leaders Christopher Bush, 40, of District Heights, Maryland, and Blalock, 31, of Clinton, Maryland, were previously sentenced to 10 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for leading the ring, which resulted in approximately $1 million in total losses to victims.

            Elliott faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison when she is sentenced on July 25, 2014.
            This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay Kelly is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.