D.A. BROWN: LONG ISLAND JEWISH HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE CHARGED WITH COMPUTER TRESPASS AND HARASSMENT FOR ACCESSING PRIVATE INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES AND MAKING OBSCENE CALLS TO THEM AT THEIR HOMES

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the arrest of a Uniondale, Long Island man who had worked at Long Island Jewish Medical Center as an "access service representative" on charges that he used confidential records to get phone numbers and make obscene phone calls to co-workers.

District Attorney Brown said, "It is alleged that the defendant abused the confidence of his employer and his co-workers by taking information from confidential records and making phone calls which disgusted and alarmed the recipients. The technology employed to gain the information served to track the defendant’s actions as he accessed additional private documents."

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as William Gibson, 40, of 233 Warren Street, Uniondale, New York. He is charged with computer trespass, unlawful duplication of computer related material, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and aggravated harassment. He faces a maximum term of 4 years in prison if convicted.

According to the District Attorney, the defendant, who had worked at Long Island Jewish Medical Center since 1997, signed an agreement of confidentiality upon being employed in a position which gave him access to private records. In June 2000, after a number of LIJ’s female employees complained of receiving obscene calls, the Medical Center installed a device which tracked the computer from which information involving employees was being accessed. When a computer was identified as the one from which the confidential information had been acquired, a camera was concealed nearby and the defendant was photographed at the computer while further confidential information was being accessed.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Craig Abruzzo of the District Attorney’s Detective Bureau under the supervision of Chief Edward T. Brady and Lt. Robert Burke, assisted by Detective Sergeant Paul Gros of the Port Washington Police District and Detective Wayne Mathieson of Nassau County Police Department’s 6th Squad.

Assistant District Attorney Michael J. Connolly and Anthony M. Communiello Chief of the District Attorney’s Civil Enforcement Bureau, under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco, are in charge of the case.

It is to be noted that a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.