Gibson Revisited

Alamo Woman Convicted of Selling FBI Agent’s Medical Records (PDF) | U.S. Attorney’s Office S.D. Tex. | 3.7.06

(McALLEN, TX) Liz Arlene Ramirez, 36, of Alamo, Texas, has been convicted of selling the confidential medical record information of a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to a person she believed to be working for a drug trafficker. United States Attorney Chuck Rosenberg announced her conviction today, and noted that Ramirez faces a maximum punishment of ten (10) years in federal prison, without parole, and a $250,000 fine at her sentencing set for June 8, 2006. Ramirez, who was indicted and arrested in November 2005, has been permitted by the court to remain free on a $50,000 bond pending her sentencing.

At a hearing held on Monday, March 6, 2006, before United States District Judge Randy Crane, Ramirez pleaded guilty to the federal felony offense of wrongfully using a unique health identifier with the intent to sell individually identifiable health information for personal gain.

The United States proved that during the spring of 2005, Ramirez, who was employed at a doctor’s office under contract to provide physicals and medical treatment to FBI agents, offered to and agreed for a price to provide the personal and medical information of an FBI agent to a person she thought was working for a drug trafficker. The person was actually a confidential source (CS) of information to the FBI, who recorded their various meetings. In her final meeting with the CS, Ramirez received $500, the price she set for providing the medical records of the agent.

The FBI initiated this investigation after the CS notified them of Ramirez’s offer in early 2005. Assistant United States Attorney Steven Schammel is prosecuting the case.

See Gibson here, here, and here.