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Lawfully Obtained ID Info Can Be Used Unlawfully

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Abdelshafi: Abdelshafi owned and ran a medical transport (aka ambulance) service that contracted with Medicaid to transport patients in Virginia. As part of the routine transportations that Abdelshafi's company would do, it would collect bits of personal identifying information such as birth dates and Medicaid IDs. Eventually, investigators discovered that Abdelshafi's company was overcharging for some transports and charging for transports that never took place. He was charged with (among other things) two counts of aggravated identity theft. Abdelshafi moved for an acquittal on those counts, arguing that he did not possess the patients' identifying information "without lawful authority" since it had been gained during the normal course of lawful business...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on February 08, 2010 (boomark / email).