931 in Berkeley may be ID theft victims Berkeley

In this file photograph, paramedics wheeled a victim into an ambulance in Berkeley. In this file photograph, paramedics wheeled a victim into an ambulance in Berkeley. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 931 in Berkeley may be ID theft victims 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

(11-30) 07:55 PST BERKELEY -- More than 900 people who were taken to hospitals by Berkeley Fire Department crews may have had their personal information stolen by a Florida crime ring that victimized people nationwide to collect millions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds, authorities said Thursday.

Berkeley officials said the city has begun notifying 931 people that information including their name, date of birth and Social Security number may have been stolen from an agency that collects bills for ambulance rides.

They said they didn't know how many Berkeley patients may have had bogus tax returns filed in their names.

Thirteen people were arrested in the Tampa, Fla., area in connection with the ring in September and charged with federal tax fraud and other crimes, federal documents show. The defendants are suspected of using the stolen personal information to file fake tax returns in the victims' names and collect refund checks.

Authorities believe the information was stolen from Intermedix Inc., an agency in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that collects bills from patients who are taken to hospitals by city ambulances.

The Berkeley Fire Department is one of 27 agencies in 17 states whose patients may have had personal information stolen from Intermedix and its parent company, Advanced Data Processing Inc.

Rather than collect for ambulance rides itself, the Berkeley department electronically sends confidential personal information about patients to Intermedix.

In October, as part of a multiagency investigation into the suspected Tampa ring, Florida police alerted Intermedix that one of its employees may have been supplying confidential data to the tax-fraud defendants. "With the company's help, the authorities identified the employee who admitted to the crime," Intermedix said in a statement.

The employee, whose name has not been released, was fired, company spokeswoman Lisa MacKenzie said. The ex-worker has not been charged with a crime, she said.

4 California cities

MacKenzie said that in California, personal information may have been stolen from ambulance patients in Berkeley, Los Angeles, El Centro (Imperial County) and Corona (Riverside County). She would not say how many patients in the state may have been victimized, but Los Angeles officials say they suspect more than 900 ambulance patients in that city may have had their information wind up in the Florida defendants' hands. In El Centro, the number tops 1,500, officials there said.

No medical info stolen

No medical information about the ambulance patients was stolen from the collection agency, MacKenzie said.

Berkeley began sending letters to patients Nov. 15, warning them to monitor their credit for a year. Intermedix is offering them free credit monitoring.

The city is also urging people to contact the Internal Revenue Service about the status of their tax filing.

"Obviously, we are concerned about our customers," said Fire Chief Debra Pryor. "We're doing everything we can to work with Intermedix in terms of assisting victims in any way possible."

Intermedix was the low bidder for a two-year, $400,000-a-year contract to provide billing services for Berkeley, but the city had deals with the company for several years before that. The latest contract, which took effect in April, allows Intermedix to keep 4.75 percent of what it collects.

A memo to the City Council from interim City Manager Christine Daniel in February touted the company as having "a proven track record," and said it had contracts with "several other local fire agencies and private paramedic providers in Alameda County." None of those agencies had patients' confidential information stolen from Intermedix, authorities said.

The Florida tax-fraud ring had been operating for several years, Tampa police said. It first victimized the families of dead people, including the widow of a slain police officer, before expanding to people whose information had landed with Intermedix, authorities said.

'Queen of tax fraud'

Among those charged was 26-year-old Rashia Wilson, who described herself as the "queen of tax fraud," federal authorities said.

Some of the defendants had been suspected by police of drug dealing. Wilson and her boyfriend held tax-fraud parties at Tampa-area motels, reaping so much cash that defendants cut back on less lucrative drug sales, authorities said.