Sentara General Hospital Data Breach (2011)

Two former Sentara Healthcare nurse's aides were indicted Wednesday on charges of stealing the identities of at least a dozen patients as part of an elaborate scheme that netted more than $116,000 in fraudulent tax refunds. Festus Ighalo, 36, of Virginia Beach and Emmanuel Effiong, 35, of Dallas, Texas, are charged with conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and numerous counts of aggravated identity theft. Effiong maintains his innocence, according to his attorney, Paul Todd Sartwell. He said that the two men were roommates in Virginia Beach, but that Effiong moved to Texas about the time the alleged scheme began. The 47-count indictment doesn’t specify where ­Ighalo and Effiong worked, but several of the victims were patients at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. All were patients of Sentara medical facilities in Virginia Beach, documents said. According to the Virginia Department of Health Professions, both men were licensed last year as nurse’s aides. ­Ighalo’s license remains in good standing. The scheme stretched from about September 2011 through April 2013, the indictment said. The men would take names, birth dates and Social Security numbers and give them to other people. Those accomplices, not identified in the indictment, would file false income tax returns collect refunds.