Tighter security of health cards is in the works

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 9:31 a.m.

After a Clark County Health District employee's arrest in connection with an identity theft, Health District officials said Monday there are plans in the works to make it harder for workers to create fraudulent health cards.

Susan Donegan, 42, was suspended Monday without pay pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

According to police, Donegan, who also worked at Dillard's department store, passed along information on people with lines of credit at the store to her friend Stephanie Stevenson, a clerk with the Las Vegas Municipal Court, who was reportedly having money problems.

Donegan would then create a health card bearing the victim's name and address and Stevenson's photograph, police said.

Stevenson had a valid health card in her own name, and Donegan told police she would make the fake ones by going into the computer system and pulling up Stevenson's health card, then changing the name but leaving Stevenson's picture on it.

After printing out the bogus health card, Donegan allegedly would go back into the computer system and change all of Stevenson's information back, then she would give the card to her friend.

She told police she did this about 10 times and never received money or property from Stevenson in exchange for the cards, the arrest report says.

Stevenson allegedly used the health cards as photo identification and the stolen credit card numbers to buy merchandise and gift cards at Dillard's. One of her alleged victims was the wife of a Metro Police sergeant.

She was arrested Friday on a theft charge.

Health District officials started revamping the health card system prior to the allegations against Donegan, Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the Clark County Health District, said Monday.

The new system will be in place after the first of the year. Sizemore said protections will in place to try to prevent the kind of fraud Donegan is accused of commiting.

"One of the safeguards will be that a card will have to be saved before it is printed out," Sizemore said. That requirement will effectively leave a paper trail.

Stevenson was suspended without pay Friday from her job as a payment processing clerk with the municipal court following her arrest Thursday. She was charged with theft, burglary and impersonating another.

Her job had involved processing of payment information for citizens settling traffic tickets and warrants and had access to personal checks, cashier's checks and credit card numbers.

City auditors began probing the municipal court's operations late Monday morning, court administrator Jim Carmany said.

"I asked them to come in and make sure all the controls are in place and (asked them) if they have any additional suggestions on how we could improve," Carmany said.

Metro Police are investigating whether Stevenson used any of the credit card numbers or other sensitive information she came across through the course of her job.

This case makes some very uneasy because there is little that can be done to prevent some forms of identity theft, said Roy Michael, a local mortgage broker and lecturer on identity theft who also issues a monthly newsletter on the topic.

"The value of the security of our information goes down to the lowest common denominator, the morals of the person who has access to it," he said.

Donegan "was the person who was entrusted with that information and she (allegedly) chose to abuse it."