Former Med. College Employee Pleads Guilty to Charges of Identity Theft

A former employee of the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College pleaded guilty on Friday to selling information from the personal records of over 50,000 patients. The Associated Press reported that the hospital — the primary teaching facility for Cornell’s Medical School — found out about the breach after patients’ records were discovered in Atlanta by postal inspectors.

Dwight McPherson, the man arrested in connection with the crimes, was said to have been selling information since 2006, when he was approached with a request for the names, phone numbers and social security numbers of male patients between 38 and 58 years old. According to the AP, the information was used for identity theft.