An employee at a dental practice in Florida was arrested for destroying the office’s computer files, including patient consent forms, and shredding other documents before leaving her job and not coming back, according to a story published on CBS 12 News.
Illiana Sacerio, 20, who worked at It’s a Smile World Pediatric Dentistry in Wellington, FL, was charged with felony counts of destroying computer intellectual property and criminal mischief. Authorities estimate she reportedly caused about $9,000 in damage and disrupted business operations and patient care, according to the story.
Illiana Sacerio.Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
In January, Sacerio worked her morning shift at the practice, left around noon for lunch, and never returned. Later, office staff discovered that Sacerio allegedly deleted computer files from practice computers and shredded documents without authorization on the morning she left. Surveillance video captured her actions.
The files deleted included front-office documents, tax forms, insurance files, patient communication software, dental software files, patient x-rays, voicemail system files, employee records, inventory lists, evaluation forms, and patient consent forms, according to the story.
Additionally, Sacerio purportedly shredded paper documents, threw them in a bag, and tossed them into a dumpster outside the practice. Authorities recovered the bag.
The practice owner claimed Sacerio’s actions hurt patient care and business, leaving staff unable to access patient voicemails for about a week. To restore functionality, the owner had to hire a third party to recover some of its data. Unfortunately, some deleted files couldn’t be recovered, according to the story.
Furthermore, the owner claimed that Sacerio’s actions financially impacted the practice, estimating the minimum cost of damage at $9,000, which included costs for employee overtime, information technology expenses, and logo design recovery.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
