A California man was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for using his position as a hospital clerk to steal patient information, which was then used to fraudulently apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
Starting in August 2020, Matthew Lombardo, now 54, began obtaining confidential patient information, which he then sent to an unnamed co-defendant who used the information to fraudulently apply for PUA benefits through the California unemployment system.
Text messages cited in court showed Lombardo and co-conspirators targeting vulnerable victims. In one message sent on Aug. 22, 2020, Lombardo asked “this guy died a few hours ago, how many names do we need?,” according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department did not specify how much money the conspirators were able to steal.
The deceased, however, were not suitable for the scam, the co-conspirator responded, writing “find me one who is still alive … someone 55 or younger who is on their way out.”
Lombardo was fired by the S.H. Scripps Health System in April 2021. In the fall of 2022, Lombardo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of using confidential health information for personal gain, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
“During a national healthcare emergency, Mr. Lombardo stole the identities of hospital patients to defraud the government of funds intended for people in crisis. This office and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to pursuing such frauds and will hold the perpetrators accountable,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Randy Grossman said in a statement.
