Eastern District sentences Sherman to 30 months for conspiracy

A Sherman woman was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison this week for conspiring to obtain information from a protected computer.

A press release from the Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, Nicholas J. Ganjei.

The statement said Amanda Lowry, 40, pleaded guilty on December 4, 2020 to conspiring to obtain information from a protected computer.

“Today’s sentence is another example of the Eastern District’s commitment to vigorously defend protected health information and prosecute those who exploit this information for personal gain,” Ganjei said. “The actions of the accused not only compromised the sensitive information of the victims, exposing them to fraudulent schemes; but, in the end, it also created unnecessary costs for federal health programs.

According to information presented to the court, Lowry, Demetrius Cervantes and Lydia Henslee were named in a federal indictment on September 11, 2019, accusing them of conspiracy to obtain information from a protected computer and of conspiracy to view of illegally possessing and using a means of identification. They are believed to have breached a healthcare provider’s electronic health record (EHR) system in order to steal protected health information and personally identifiable information belonging to patients. This stolen information was then “repackaged” in the form of false and fraudulent medical prescriptions, and then sold to durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers and contractors. The defendants obtained more than $ 1.4 million in proceeds from the sale of the stolen information. The defendants then used this product to purchase items such as sport utility vehicles, all-terrain vehicles and jet skis.

Cervantes was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison on July 8. Henslee pleaded guilty on March 25. The date of his conviction has not been set.

This case was investigated by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General; United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; and the US Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigation Service. The case is being pursued by Deputy US Prosecutors Nathaniel Kummerfeld and Adrian Garcia.