VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site





Be sure to get all five
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
VSO Press
Releases

Download your
free copy of the
2008 VA benefits
handbook here...
 

Printer-Friendly Version

VET CHARGED IN THEFT OF COMPUTERS FROM INDIANAPOLIS

VA HOSPITAL -- Data on one of the missing computers included

names, Social Security numbers and other personal

information of 12,000 patients at the hospital.

Joseph Radican                    (photo: Indianapolis Police)

For more about VA data thefts, go to this page...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/va%20data%20theft%20news.htm

Story here... http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbc
s.dll/article?AID=/20080318/LOCAL/80318064/0/BUSINESS

Story below:

-------------------------

Man charged in theft of VA computers

By John Strauss
john.strauss@indystar.com

A former patient at the Roudebush VA Medical Center has been charged in the disappearance of hospital computer equipment that contained the records of nearly 12,000 patients.

“According to the probable cause affidavit, computer equipment including a laptop computer, computer screens and printers were taken from the VA facility on November 13 of last year,” the Marion County prosecutor’s office said in a news release.

Joseph A. Radican, 50, Indianapolis, was arrested Monday on one count of Class D felony theft after investigators identified him from surveillance video. A probable cause affidavit, a sworn police statement filed in support of the charge, identifies him as a former patient at the facility.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Thompson said Radican turned himself in Monday and was released on his own recognizance.

There were no published listings for Radican in Indianapolis to obtain comment.

Data on one of the missing computers included names, Social Security numbers and other personal information of patients at the hospital.

The equipment was not recovered in a search of the man’s home in January, according to the police statement.

VA officials said patient information was protected by passwords, but those whose information might have been stolen were contacted. The Department of Veterans Affairs was also offering one year of free credit monitoring to those affected.

Authorities talked to an employee of a West 10th Street pawnshop who recognized Radican and said he tried to sell a laptop at the store. The woman told authorities she refused to buy the computer because it was not registered to Radican.

After the November theft, U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, a Monticello Republican, said the VA hospital had failed to follow new safety protocols, leading to the thefts.

"The information that was accessed should have never been portable," he said at the time.

"That information should have been secure on a server in a data storage system in a remote location."

The FBI and the VA’s inspector general’s office was offering a $10,000 reward for information about the location of the computers and equipment.

Radican is scheduled for a court appearance on April 15 in Superior Court 24.

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

       
Military Medical Malpractice 
Legal Network               

VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site