Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to Criminal HIPAA Violation

United States District Court Senior Judge James T. Moody sentenced Rico Prunty, a 41-year-old resident of Sierra Vista, Arizona, to 54 months in prison for a criminal HIPAA violation. Prunty pleaded guilty to a criminal violation of HIPAA as well as aggravated identity theft.

Between July 2014 and May 2017, Prunty used his position as an employee at an Arizona medical facility to unlawfully access medical intake forms containing sensitive patient information, such as names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, employer information, diagnoses, and medical information.

Prunty went on to share that sensitive information with his co-conspirators, who subsequently used the information to open credit card accounts and access the existing bank accounts of patients. Prunty himself improperly accessed the private information of nearly 500 patients, resulting in losses of $132,521, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana stated.

Prunty’s Northwest Indiana-based co-conspirators, Vincent Prunty, Temika Coleman, and Gemico Childress have been sentenced to 154 months, 121 months, and 134 months in prison, respectively.

Prunty will serve 54 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $132,521 in restitution to victims of the offense.