A former employee of Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison for wrongful disclosure of individual identifiable health information and wire fraud, according to the Department of Justice.
According to court documents, Shanakia Benton illegally accessed the personal information of more than 600 TGH patients between June 2011 and December 2012. Ms. Benton and her accomplices used the information to file at least 29 false tax returns, seeking refunds totaling $226,000.
In addition to her prison sentence, Ms. Benton was ordered to pay $77,239 — the proceeds of the wire fraud.
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