Kaiser ID thief pleads no content

A former United Health Workers/SEIU employee faces up to 15 years in prison after it was learned she stole more than 400 people's personal identifying information, the Sacramento Bee reports. Former benefits clerk Mia Garza allegedly infiltrated an electronic file containing names, addresses and other sensitive data for more than 29,000 employees of managed care consortium Kaiser Permanente in July 2007. She proceeded to run background checks and credit reports on the victims, who were from 14 different counties in California. News 10 reports that Garza pleaded no contest to identity theft. At the time of her arrest in 2009, she was apprehended in a surgical gown and was preparing to undergo a $12,000 liposuction procedure, to be paid for using the stolen credit card information. The Sacramento Business Journal reports that the two-year investigation into Garza's crimes by the Sacramento Valley High Tech Task Force led them to charges in various counties. However, the 2009 arrest took jurisdiction over the other cases.