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An employee of a Chicago hospital has been charged with using the personal information of patients, some of them being treated for cancer, to pay personal bills, according to the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Shatina Golden, 35, of Matteson, who worked at Northwestern Hospital for the last four years, has been charged with one count each of Aggravated Identity Theft and Identity Theft. She faces up to 7 years in prison if convicted.

According to prosecutors, Matteson police began an investigation when village officials noticed suspicious credit card activity connected with payments for the defendant’s water bill on her home. After police identified numerous charge-backs on the credit cards the defendant was using to pay her bills, authorities obtained computer records that showed the payments were made either from the defendant’s home or Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Matteson Police contacted the respective credit card companies and were told all of the cards had recently been used at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Spectrasol Laboratory. Investigators also found that all of the victims had recently been to that hospital and some also had electric, gas, and phone accounts opened in their names.

Last week Matteson Police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home and found paperwork containing personal information such as birthdates, social security numbers, and credit card numbers from more than 50 patients.

Golden was arrested and she appeared in court in Markham where her bond was set at $10,000. Her case was continued to June 4th for a preliminary hearing.

The public is reminded that charging documents contain allegations that are not evidence of guilt. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial where the state has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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